Hourly 5-minute walks benefits arterial damages due to sitting

The harm to leg arteries caused by sitting for hours can be easily reversed with hourly 5-minute walks, according to new research findings of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Sitting for prolonged periods is associated with risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic disease, such as higher cholesterol levels and greater waist circumference. Because muscles are slackened when sitting, they do not contribute to pumping blood to the heart. This causes blood to pool in the legs, damaging the endothelial function of arteries and impairing blood vessels' ability to expand.

The researchers found that, while sitting, the dilation and expansion of the arteries were impaired by up to 50% after just the first hour. However, there was no decrease in arterial function among those who walked for 5 minutes each hour. The researchers think this is because the increase in muscle activity aided blood flow.

There is plenty of epidemiological evidence linking sitting time to various chronic diseases and linking breaking sitting time to beneficial cardiovascular effects, but there is very little experimental evidence. Now researchers have shown that prolonged sitting impairs endothelial function, which is an early marker of cardiovascular disease, and that breaking sitting time prevents the decline in that function.