{"id":439387,"date":"2026-01-26T22:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/439387\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:13:10","slug":"prolonged-sitting-decreases-brain-blood-flow-and-function-but-just-two-minutes-of-this-light-form-of-exercise-can-offset-the-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/439387\/","title":{"rendered":"Prolonged sitting decreases brain blood flow and function, but just two minutes of this light form of exercise can offset the damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s fairly well understood by now that prolonged sitting\u2014whether at your desk, at the wheel or on the couch\u2014can cause your muscles and joints to seize up and stiffen.<\/p>\n

But research suggests it also affects your brain.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A 2018 study<\/a> published in the Journal of Applied Physiology discovered that uninterrupted sitting caused a significant 3.2% reduction in blood flow velocity to the brain.<\/p>\n

This decline in cerebral blood flow could explain why some tasks feel harder to crack the longer you dwell on them, or why reaction speed slows down on a long drive.<\/p>\n

The research, led by Sophie E. Carter of Liverpool John Moores University, also found that this decline could be offset by taking regular light-intensity walking breaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply breaking up sitting seems a helpful strategy,\u201d says co-author Dick Thijssen, professor in cardiovascular physiology and exercise at Liverpool John Moores University.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have found that breaking up four hours of sitting with a few minutes of walking every 30 minutes is sufficient,\u201d he tells Fit&Well.<\/p>\n

Start your week with achievable workout ideas, health tips and wellbeing advice in your inbox.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecifically, this prevents the decline in vascular function and prevents the decline in blood flow to the brain that you normally see after four hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

At work this can be easily done by taking walking breaks, taking the stairs, visiting your colleagues physically rather than sending an email, or taking walking lunches or meetings, Thijssen advises.<\/p>\n

If confined to your home office, you could even walk on the spot for two minutes, like the participants did during the study.<\/p>\n

And what if you\u2019re tied to your desk for more than four hours?<\/p>\n

\u201cDo what you can to prevent it,\u201d Thijssen stresses, admitting this is not always possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that case, remember that any activity is better than none. Even fidgeting with your lower limbs can sufficiently activate the lower limb muscles to increase blood flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the study<\/p>\n

In the study, the researchers noted that \u201cdecreased cerebrovascular blood flow and function\u201d is associated with \u201clower cognitive functioning and increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases\u201d.<\/p>\n

To investigate how this could be protected against, Carter\u2019s team monitored 15 healthy office workers over the course of four-hour spells as they were exposed to three different conditions.<\/p>\n

Walking breaks were conducted on the spot at a normal, self-selected walking pace, and blood flow to the middle cerebral artery was measured at baseline and after four hours.<\/p>\n

Uninterrupted sitting: Triggered a 3.2% reduction in blood flow velocity to the brain, measured at the cerebral artery.Two-minute light-intensity walking breaks every 30 minutes: This frequency offset the decline and slightly boosted blood flow to the brain.Eight-minute light-intensity walking breaks every two hours: Longer, less frequent breaks failed to prevent the decline in blood flow.<\/p>\n

The results, the authors concluded, \u201cindicate that prolonged uninterrupted sitting in healthy desk workers reduces cerebral blood flow; however, this is offset when frequent short-duration walking breaks are incorporated\u201d.<\/p>\n

For anyone who engages in long periods of sedentary behavior, \u201cchronically breaking up these sitting periods with frequent active break strategies may have important implications for cerebrovascular health,\u201d they concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s fairly well understood by now that prolonged sitting\u2014whether at your desk, at the wheel or on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,538,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-439387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}