Breaking Up Prolonged Sitting With Standing or Walking Attenuates the Postprandial Metabolic Response in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Acute Study
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether breaking up prolonged sitting with short bouts of standing or walking improves postprandial markers of cardiometabolic health in women at high risk of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Twenty-two overweight/obese, dysglycemic, postmenopausal women (mean ± SD age 66.6 ± 4.7 years) each participated in two of the following treatments: prolonged, unbroken sitting (7.5 h) or prolonged sitting broken up with either standing or walking at a self-perceived light intensity (for 5 min every 30 min). Both allocation and treatment order were randomized. The incremental area under the curves (iAUCs) for glucose, insulin, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), and triglycerides were calculated for each treatment condition (mean ± SEM). The following day, all participants underwent the 7.5-h sitting protocol. RESULTS: Compared with a prolonged bout of sitting (iAUC 5.3 ± 0.8 mmol/L ⋅ h), both standing (3.5 ± 0.8 mmol/L ⋅ h) and walking (3.8 ± 0.7 mmol/L ⋅ h) significantly reduced the glucose iAUC (both P < 0.05). When compared with prolonged sitting (548.2 ± 71.8 mU/L ⋅ h), insulin was also reduced for both activity conditions (standing, 437.2 ± 73.5 mU/L ⋅ h; walking, 347.9 ± 78.7 mU/L ⋅ h; both P < 0.05). Both standing (−1.0 ± 0.2 mmol/L ⋅ h) and walking (−0.8 ± 0.2 mmol/L ⋅ h) attenuated the suppression of NEFA compared with prolonged sitting (−1.5 ± 0.2 mmol/L ⋅ h) (both P < 0.05). There was no significant effect on triglyceride iAUC. The effects on glucose (standing and walking) and insulin (walking only) persisted into the following day. CONCLUSIONS: Breaking up prolonged sitting with 5-min bouts of standing or walking at a self-perceived light intensity reduced postprandial glucose, insulin, and NEFA responses in women at high risk of type 2 diabetes. This simple, behavioral approach could inform future public health interventions aimed at improving the metabolic profile of postmenopausal, dysglycemic women.
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Reducing sedentary time with frequent breaks is safe in other chronic health conditions and applicable to patients with cardiometabolic diseases.
“Others have shown that reducing sedentary time with frequent breaks is safe in other chronic health conditions and applicable to patients with cardiometabolic diseases [15-17].”
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- Authors
- Henson, J., Davies, M. J., Bodicoat, D. H., Edwardson, C. L., Gill, J. M. R., Stensel, D. J., Tolfrey, K., Dunstan, D. W., Khunti, K., & Yates, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Leicester (GB)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Loughborough University (GB)
- Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Henson, Joseph
- ORCID
- Venue
- Diabetes Care
- Publisher
- American Diabetes Association
- Published
- 2015-12-01
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 130-138
- ISSN
- 0149-5992 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-5548
- OpenAlex
- W2184446545
- Cited by
- 270
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 53 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 28.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- dspace.lboro.ac.uk
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Diabetes Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
- Own your potential (DEAKIN) (submittedVersion)
- Loughborough University Institutional Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Loughborough University Research Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Research
- Keywords
- sitting breaks, prolonged sitting, standing, walking, postprandial blood glucose, insulin response, free fatty acids, triglycerides, postmenopausal women, type 2 diabetes risk, dysglycemia, overweight and obesity, cardiometabolic health, sedentary behavior, postprandial lipemia, postprandial hypertriglyceridemia, postprandial hyperglycemia, postprandial hyperinsulinemia
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Fatty Acids, Nonesterified, Female, Humans, Insulin, Middle Aged, Obesity, Posture, Risk Factors, Triglycerides, Biomarkers, Multivariate Analysis, Linear Models, Walking, Postmenopause, Cross-Over Studies, Postprandial Period, Area Under Curve, Glucose Metabolism Disorders, Overweight
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