Intermittent walking, but not standing, improves postprandial insulin and glucose relative to sustained sitting: A randomised cross-over study in inactive middle-aged men

Abstract

Interrupting sustained sitting with brief repeated bouts of light-intensity walking but not standing reduced insulin demand and improved glucose uptake during a simulated sedentary working day. The benefits of such minor behavioural changes could inform future workplace health interventions.

The Acute Effects of Breaking Up Seated Office Work With Standing or Light-Intensity Walking on Interstitial Glucose Concentration: A Randomized Crossover Trial

“…This finding adds to the existing evidence on the acute beneficial effects of regularly breaking up prolonged sitting with short bouts of light-intensity walking on blood glucose regulation. 1,2,3,5 However, our effect size is considerably larger compared with previous studies, which reported reductions in postprandial glycemia ranging from 9.0% 5 to 28.0%. 3 One possible reason for this could be the different methods used to measure glucose concentration.…”

“…Two previous studies in adults without metabolic impairment reported no effect of standing. 1,5 However, the participants were younger and leaner than those in the current study and thus may have been more insulin sensitive. 20 These findings suggest that standing still for two minutes may only be a sufficient stimulus for insulin resistant individuals, with insulin sensitive individuals requiring longer standing bouts 10 or additional movement during the standing bouts.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5] In fact, despite equal amounts of total physical activity, Peddie et al (2013) 4 found that regular activity breaks were more effective than a continuous bout of activity at lowering postprandial glycemia in 70 healthy, young adults.…”

“…7 To our knowledge, six experimental studies to date have examined the acute effects of standing on postprandial glycemia. Three examined prolonged bouts of standing (30 minutes 8 , 45 minutes 9 and four hours 10 , respectively) and three examined short bouts (two minutes 1,5 and five minutes 3 , respectively). However, their results are conflicting, with three reporting a beneficial effect of standing 3,8,10 and three reporting no effect.…”

“…However, their results are conflicting, with three reporting a beneficial effect of standing 3,8,10 and three reporting no effect. 1,5,9 Therefore, the primary aim of the current study was to examine the acute effects of regularly breaking up seated office work with short bouts of standing or light-intensity walking on postprandial interstitial glucose concentration. The secondary aim was to investigate the acceptability of two interventions that break up prolonged sitting in the workplace.…”