Taking a brief walk while long periods of sedentary work will help you feel less tired, say medics who warn of the danger of inactivity in general.
Walking for 5 minutes every 60 minutes is both effective in countering the negative effects of sitting and relatively easy to follow, scientists say in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The positive effects reported by participants were greatest in a study group instructed to walk for 5 minutes every 30 minutes.
But a break every 120 minutes appeared to be the most feasible option.
The team chose the 5-minute walking duration based on an earlier study, which found that 5-minute breaks for physical activity led to greater improvements in mood, fatigue and markers of heart health compared to shorter breaks.
Sitting up to 12 hours per day
In high income countries, many people sit for 11 to 12 hours a day, says the group led by Keith Diaz at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York.
“Excessive physical inactivity has become a significant public health problem.”
It carries with it the risk of many chronic diseases, a deterioration in mental health and increased mortality. It also places a considerable economic burden on health-care systems, the researchers say.
A slew of studies have already shown that short breaks for physical activity can counteract this. But large groups had not yet been studied in their daily environments, outside a laboratory setting.
The team recruited participants from fans of an interactive podcast series about health and technology by US broadcaster National Public Radio.
However, this meant the sample was not representative of the general population.
The participants chose the frequency of their planned walking breaks, taking a turn every 30, 60 or 120 minutes.
For one week, they did not take breaks and recorded their tiredness and mood.
In the following two weeks, they did the same, but took breaks, too.
Best balance with a break per hour
Overall, people said their tiredness decreased and mood improved.
Their perceived fatigue decreased significantly. All the groups reported feeling more positive.
“Hourly breaks showed the best balance between practicality and effectiveness,” the team says.
The results suggest that physical activity breaks are a potentially suitable public health intervention to reduce the negative effects of prolonged sedentary behaviour.
Minor effect on work performance
The researchers did not measure any negative effects of the breaks on work performance.
On the contrary, they say, although none of the tested durations of activity breaks resulted in significant improvements in perceived work performance or engagement, all led to small but positive changes on average.
Specifically, these were 4% to 7% for engagement and 1% to 3% for performance.
The findings could offer potential for public health strategies and inclusion in physical activity guidelines, say the scientists.
However, they called for more research on breaks.
Long-term studies are needed to examine whether activity breaks can be sustained over the long term and what long-term impact they have on health and behaviour, the scientists say.
Research is also needed into the effect of activity breaks that do not require leaving the workplace, as for some people and at some places, these may be more practical.
Also, the study was not representative in terms of the selection of participants. Some 11,484 people were involved, most of whom were women, white, in full-time employment, holders of a university degree and of middle age.
