A five minute walk every hour can offset the harms of a sedentary lifestyle, new research suggests. The study of over 19,300 US adults follows separate data that found an extra five minutes walking a day can cut the risk of an early death by one tenth. Experts said the findings challenge the common conception that regular movement breaks disrupt work productivity.
Instead they found that 'exercise snacking' - which involves squeezing in minutes-long bursts of movement throughout the day instead of doing one dedicated gym session - could boost mood and lessen fatigue, with no negative impact on work output. They added: 'Movement breaks are implementable and effective, supporting their potential as a public health strategy.'
Physical inactivity is thought to be responsible for at least nine per cent of deaths worldwide - but experts predict this number could be much higher. On average, adults in high-income countries spend up to 12 hours a day sitting down - a lifestyle factor that has been linked to a number of adverse health outcomes. Studies have previously suggested that brief movement breaks could be a promising intervention for offsetting these harms - from obesity to cancer - but until now it has been unclear how they would work in the real world.
The study - published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine - followed 19,342 adults from the Body Electric Challenge in the US. Participants spanned a range of ages, occupations, and work environments. They were asked to stick to their normal routine for the first week of the study, and the majority also completed a daily survey assessing their mood, fatigue and work performance at the end of the day.
For the next two weeks, around 60 per cent of participants took a five minute walk every 30, 60 or 120 minutes - whenever they chose to take a break from their work. A random sample of 1,200 full-time employees also received five text messages a day at three hour intervals between 9am and 6pm, asking them to assess the immediate impact of their walk.
Analysis of the results suggested that all three break times were viewed as doable, acceptable and appropriate, indicating implementation potential. However, participants consistently said that taking fewer breaks was more feasible, even though acceptability and appropriateness were high across all three intervals.
Reported fatigue and low mood fell while good mood increased significantly, with improvements showing a dose-response pattern. This means the more walks employees took throughout the work day, averaging one an hour, the better their mood and productivity.
Taking a five-minute walking break every two hours was viewed as most practical, but it was the least effective at boosting morale. However, results showed that employees struggled to take a break every 30 minutes, due to workload. A five-minute break every hour emerged as the most effective - with nearly half of all participants naturally opting for this routine.
The researchers concluded: 'Concerns that movement breaks might disrupt work productivity have been documented as a perceived barrier to implementation. However our findings counter this perception. While none of the tested movement break doses elicited improvements in perceived work performance or engagement that exceeded minimally important differences, all yielded small but favourable changes,' they added.
Experts who were not involved in the current study also welcomed the findings, saying the findings suggest that simple additions of movement can improve overall health. Emily McGrath, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, added: 'We know that sitting for long periods increases the risk of heart and circulatory disease and early death. Taking regular "energy snacks", like a five-minute walk each hour, can boost mood and support heart health.'
However, the researchers acknowledged the current study has some limitations, including the fact the results relied on self-reported data, and the study length being short, making it difficult to know how sustainable the approach would be long-term. Even so, they concluded that this large-scale study demonstrates that movement breaks are implementable and effective, supporting their potential as a public health strategy, and provides new insight into feasible dosing for real-world use.
A separate study published earlier this year found that an extra five minutes walking a day can slash the risk of an early death by one tenth, and that reducing sedentary time by half an hour a day could reduce deaths by three to seven per cent. Even so, experts still recommend aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.