Interrupting Prolonged Sitting with Regular Activity Breaks does not Acutely Influence Appetite: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Abstract

Regular activity breaks increase energy expenditure; however, this may promote compensatory eating behaviour. The present study compared the effects of regular activity breaks and prolonged sitting on appetite. In a randomised, cross-over trial, 36 healthy adults (BMI (Body Mass Index) 23.9 kg/m2 (S.D. = 3.9)) completed four, two-day interventions: two with prolonged sitting (SIT), and two with sitting and 2 min of walking every 30 min (RAB). Standardized meals were provided throughout the intervention, with an ad libitum meal at the end of Day 2. Appetite and satiety were assessed throughout both days of each intervention using five visual analogue scales. The five responses were combined into a single appetite response at each time point. The area under the appetite response curve (AUC) was calculated for each day. Intervention effects for appetite response AUC and ad libitum meal intake were tested using linear mixed models. Appetite AUC did not differ between interventions (standardised effect of RAB compared to SIT: Day 1: 0.11; 95% CI: −0.28, 0.06; p = 0.212; Day 2: 0.04; 95% CI: −0.15, 0.24; p = 0.648). There was no significant difference in energy consumed at the ad libitum lunch meal on Day 2 between RAB and SIT. Interrupting prolonged sitting with regular activity breaks does not acutely influence appetite or volume of food consumed, despite inferred increases in energy expenditure. Longer-term investigation into the effects of regular activity breaks on energy balance is warranted.

Impact of prolonged sitting and physical activity breaks on cognitive performance, perceivable benefits, and cardiometabolic health in overweight/obese adults: The role of meal composition

“…Improved mood, when prolonged sitting is interrupted with PA breaks, is in line with previous literature [8,14] and may have important implications for the mental wellbeing of this population. Hunger on the other hand was unaffected by PA breaks, which could be beneficial in the management of overweight and obesity, and is in line with previous studies that reported unaffected appetite and ad libitum food intake when prolonged sitting is interrupted [53,54]. With these observations, it is important to emphasize that we standardized the activities during the sitting period.…”

Short, frequent high-intensity physical activity breaks reduce appetite compared to a continuous moderate-intensity exercise bout

“…Although perceptions of overall appetite were suppressed in response to hourly high-intensity physical activity breaks, there was no subsequent effect on ad libitum energy intake. This is synonymous with previous research evaluating 2-min light and moderate-intensity walking breaks every 20 min (13) and 2-min moderate-intensity walking breaks every 30 min (34). The present study extends these findings by demonstrating that high-intensity physical activity breaks also do not result in an acute compensatory increase in subsequent energy intake.…”

“…Similar to the present study, the moderate-intensity physical activity breaks in the study by Holmstrup, Fairchild, Keslacy, Weinstock, Kanaley ( 10 ) did not affect subjective appetite AUC over a single day in comparison to prolonged sitting without physical activity. Other research has reported no changes in appetite in non-overweight adults who engaged in 2-min light or moderate-intensity walking bouts every 20 min over 5 h ( 13 ) or 2-min moderate-intensity walking breaks every 30 min over a 2-day period ( 34 ). It thus appears that regular physical activity breaks suppress appetite over a single day compared with continuous exercise in participants with obesity and normal weight status but not when compared to prolonged sitting.…”

“…In terms of real-life application, the short duration (2 min 32 s) and relatively infrequent (hourly) nature of the physical activity breaks in this study could be considered a more feasible and practical strategy compared with longer duration structured exercise or more regular physical activity breaks (e.g. every 20–30 min) ( 13 , 34 ), particularly for those who lack motivation to engage in structured exercise sessions. In this study, participants were at a brisk walk to slow jogging pace in order to elicit a high-intensity treadmill speed.…”

Interrupting Prolonged Sitting with Intermittent Walking Increases Postprandial Gut Hormone Responses

“…The present study was not originally designed to investigate the effects of breaking prolonged sitting on eating behavior, and so appetite-related measures were not assessed. Eating behavior has been reported to be unaffected by breaking sitting in young lean individuals (16,40), although this may be partly explained by the previously discussed lack of effect on gut hormone responses in some of these studies (16). Therefore, further research in this population is required to determine whether eating behavior and ad libitum energy intake would be altered by the changes to gut hormones observed in the current study.…”