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

Background:

The aim of this randomised, three-period, three-treatment crossover trial 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.

Methods:

Seventeen middle-aged office workers performed three five-hour trial conditions at their workplace in a random order: 1) uninterrupted sitting; 2) sitting interrupted by two minutes of standing every 20 minutes; and 3) sitting interrupted by two minutes of light-intensity walking every 20 minutes. Participants consumed two standardised test drinks at the start of each trial condition and an iPro2 continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) recorded average interstitial glucose concentration every five minutes for the duration of the study.

Results:

Five-hour interstitial glucose incremental area under the curve (iAUC) was 55.5% lower after sitting interrupted by light-intensity walking compared with after uninterrupted sitting (95% CI, -104.2% to -6.8%). There was also a suggestion of a beneficial effect of regular standing breaks, particularly in overweight men, although they were not as effective as the walking breaks (mean difference [95% CI], -29.6% [-73.9% to 14.7%]).

Conclusions:

Regularly breaking up prolonged sitting lowers postprandial glycemia in middle-aged adults without metabolic impairment.