{"id":510722,"date":"2026-06-25T16:58:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/510722\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:58:41","slug":"the-five-minute-exercise-that-combats-the-health-risks-of-sitting-for-too-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/510722\/","title":{"rendered":"The five-minute exercise that combats the health risks of sitting for too long"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Walking<\/a> for just five minutes every hour is enough to offset the health harms of prolonged sitting<\/a>, researchers have concluded. <\/p>\n

A large study found that these brief exercise breaks<\/a> \u2013 sometimes called “exercise snacks” \u2013 boosted people\u2019s mood, lessened fatigue, and did not affect their performance at work.<\/p>\n

While studies have already suggested that short movement breaks <\/a>can improve health, this research is the first to test different time slots for five-minute walking breaks and how people feel about them. <\/p>\n

“Excessive sedentariness has emerged as a significant public health concern that incurs increased risk of many chronic conditions, poorer mental health and mortality and poses a substantive economic burden to healthcare systems,” experts from the US wrote in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdults in high-income countries now spend 11\u201312 hours\/day sedentary, corresponding to over three-quarters of the waking day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AdultsAdults in high-income countries now spend 11\u201312 hours a day sedentary. (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Too much sitting down<\/a> is in part thought to worsen health owing to reduced activity in skeletal muscle and arteries serving the lower limbs.<\/p>\n

Regular movement may offset this by improving blood flow and reactivating metabolic processes linked to how the body deals with fats and glucose, the team said.<\/p>\n

They said: \u201cExperimental evidence suggests that brief, regular movement breaks (ie, interruptions to prolonged sitting achieved by walking, such as a five-minute walk every half-hour) can counteract the harmful cardiometabolic effects of prolonged sedentary behaviour and improve psychosocial well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

To test the theory, researchers examined data from 11,484 people taking part in a US nationwide challenge aimed at moving more by undertaking little movement breaks.<\/p>\n

People followed their usual routine for seven days, then chose five-minute walking breaks either every 30 minutes, every 60 minutes, or every two hours for 14 consecutive days.<\/p>\n

Over the 21 days in total, people filled in questionnaires on their fatigue, mood and work performance.<\/p>\n

A random sample of 1,200 full-time employees received five text messages every day at 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm to assess the immediate impact of movement breaks.<\/p>\n

\"EvidenceEvidence suggests that brief, regular movement breaks can counteract the harmful effects of prolonged sedentary behaviour. (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Analysis of the results suggested that all three break times were seen by people as doable, acceptable and appropriate, although fewer breaks was seen as more obtainable.<\/p>\n

People were more likely to report good mood from taking breaks, with every 30-minute break leading to highest gains, while fatigue and low mood scores fell across all break times.<\/p>\n

Overall, taking a five-minute break every hour offered the best balance between what people thought was achievable day-to-day and effectiveness for health, researchers said.<\/p>\n

Taking short breaks also did not affect work performance, the survey results suggested.<\/p>\n

\u201cConcerns that movement breaks might disrupt work productivity have been documented as a perceived barrier to implementation\/adoption. However, our findings counter this perception,\u201d the experts, including from Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, said.<\/p>\n

They said: \u201cThis large-scale study demonstrates that movement breaks are implementable and effective, supporting their potential as a public health strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emily McGrath, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: \u201cThis study looked at how movement breaks affect mood and fatigue, but we also know that sitting for long periods increases the risk of heart and circulatory disease and early death.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking regular \u2018energy snacks\u2019, like a five\u2011minute walk each hour, can boost mood and support heart health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile busy schedules can make this challenging, the findings suggest that simple additions of movement can improve overall health.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the study relied on self-reported data and was short-term, so longer research is needed to confirm its impact on heart health.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[589,163,85,46],"class_list":["post-510722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}