Frequent, Short Walks can Reduce Sitting-Related Damage to Leg Arteries

Take short walks every few hours to avoid damage to the leg arteries, researchers say.

Sitting at a stretch for a long duration is known to increase the risk of developing several chronic health complications and can even lead to early death. A new research shows that short bursts of walking can reverse harm caused to leg arteries.

People with desk jobs sometimes can't avoid sitting for long stretches of time. Scientists at the Indiana University believe that people can at least reduce the harm caused to the arteries in legs by walking for five minutes once every few hours.

When people sit, slack muscles don't pump blood effectively. Blood usually pools in the arteries of the legs, in turn affecting the flow of blood in the body.

"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," Saurabh Thosar, a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon Health & Science University, said in a news release. "We 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."

The study included 11 non-obese, healthy men aged between 20 and 35 years. In the first trial, the participants sat for three hours without moving their legs. The team used blood pressure cuff and ultrasound technology to check the function of femoral artery at the start of the trial, then again at two and three-hour mark.

In the second trial, participants sat for three hours, but walked on a treadmill for five minutes at a speed of 2 mph once every hour.

The researchers found that long hours of sitting restrict blood flow to the legs. Study participants who took short walks registered no decrease in blood flow in the legs.

"American adults sit for approximately eight hours a day," Thosar said. "The impairment in endothelial function is significant after just one hour of sitting. It is interesting to see that light physical activity can help in preventing this impairment."

The study is published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.