Interrupting prolonged sitting with walking and stairs climbing for an improved cardiometabolic risk profile

• Main Author: Lee, Yan Xuan
• Other Authors: Burns Stephen Francis
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Science::General
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78939
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Background: Sedentary behavior (SB), strongly associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality, has emerged as a new health-related research focus, especially with its rising prevalence. Interrupting SB has been shown to attenuate the rise in postprandial plasma glucose concentration (PGC) and blood pressure (BP), which are major risk factors of CVD. Purpose: To investigate the effects of interrupted prolonged sitting on postprandial PGC and BP. Hypothesis: Interrupted prolonged sitting, with walking and stairs climbing, attenuates the rise in postprandial PGC and BP. Methods: Twelve healthy young men completed two separate 3-hour trials ≥ 1 week apart in a repeated-measures crossover design: (i) Control trial – uninterrupted 3-hour postprandial prolonged sitting; (ii) Exercise trial – postprandial 3-hour sitting interrupted with walking and stairs climbing every 30 mins. Standardized test meal reflecting a classic Asian breakfast meal was given after baseline measurements. PGC and BP were measured in duplicates (pre-meal, 10-min, 25-min, 40-min, 55-min, 115-min, 175-min) and averages were recorded. Formula-derived mean arterial BP (MABP) and energy expenditure (EE) were calculated. Results: Pattern of response between trials over time was significantly different for PGC (p = .003) but not MABP (p = .429) or Systolic BP (SBP) (p = .784). PGC decreased earlier (t = 25-min) and had a lower peak value (8.67mmol/L) in the experimental trial. From t=25-min to t=40-min, change in average PGC was significantly higher in the control trial (4.11 ± 12.8%) than experimental trial (-8.56 ± 9.09%), p =.003. Conclusion: Interrupting prolonged sitting attenuates postprandial rise in PGC but not MABP or SBP.