In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleHow Was the Study Conducted?What Did the Study Show?How Does This Apply to Real Life?
In This ArticleView All
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In This Article
How Was the Study Conducted?
What Did the Study Show?
How Does This Apply to Real Life?
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It’s no secret that the longer you sit each day, the more health issues you can accumulate.Sitting too much can shorten your life spanand increase your chances of developing heart disease, insulin resistance and diabetes. And yet, approximately 81% of American adults sit for four hours or more each day, and, of those people, 26% sit for eight hours or more.
Thankfully, it doesn’t take much tweaking of your sitting time to see some health benefits, according to a new study published inJAMA Network Open.
This study looked at how reducing sitting time affected blood pressure. A total of 283 racially and ethnically mixed participants were included in this study. They had an average age of 69 and about 66% of them were women. Participants were randomly split into two groups—one group was the intervention group, the other was the control group.
Data was collected from all participants, including weight, height, blood pressure, medical history, medications and demographics.
The control group received 10 health-coaching sessions, either in-person or via telephone, over six months. They also received a workbook. At each health-coaching session, participants chose one topic to review from a list of relevant healthy-living topics—like fall prevention, healthy eating and sleep—and set topic-related goals.
The intervention group received what was called the I-STAND intervention, which was based on several psychological theories—including motivational interviewing and social cognitive theory. I-STAND participants also received 10 health-coaching sessions and a workbook, plus an accelerometer (which is basically a fancy pedometer that tracks all movement, not just steps), a generic wrist-worn fitness band and a tabletop standing desk. They also received feedback reports after wearing the accelerometers at baseline and at three months. This data provided objective evidence of participants’ activity levels, as opposed to them tracking activity themselves.
After six months, the data was collected and adjusted to increase validity, and several statistical analyses were performed.
Also notice that the intervention group received deeper-mindset training than the control group did. All lasting habit change starts in the brain. If you don’t work on your mindset—including finding your deeper “why” you want to make this change, being aware of your current habits and considering your obstacles to change—you reduce your chances of success for making the new habits stick.
A practical method for integrating a new habit is to habit-stack. The participants in the intervention group used this when they stood to read the newspaper. Reading the newspaper was already a habit they had established. Since they were trying to establish the new habit of standing more, they combined the two.
As I write this, I’m standing at my desk—which combines my habit of writing with standing. To stack another habit onto these, I also do squats, leg lifts, heel lifts and walk in place to integrate more movement into my day. It also helps me be more cognizant of my posture and prevents the muscle stiffness that accompanies sitting too long.
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SourcesEatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.Ussery EN, Fulton JE, Galuska DA, Katzmarzyk PT, Carlson SA.Joint prevalence of sitting time and leisure-time physical activity among US adults, 2015-2016.JAMA. 2018;320(19):2036. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.17797Rosenberg DE, Zhu W, Greenwood-Hickman MA, et al.Sitting time reduction and blood pressure in older adults.JAMA Network Open. 2024;7(3). doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.3234
Sources
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.Ussery EN, Fulton JE, Galuska DA, Katzmarzyk PT, Carlson SA.Joint prevalence of sitting time and leisure-time physical activity among US adults, 2015-2016.JAMA. 2018;320(19):2036. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.17797Rosenberg DE, Zhu W, Greenwood-Hickman MA, et al.Sitting time reduction and blood pressure in older adults.JAMA Network Open. 2024;7(3). doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.3234
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
Ussery EN, Fulton JE, Galuska DA, Katzmarzyk PT, Carlson SA.Joint prevalence of sitting time and leisure-time physical activity among US adults, 2015-2016.JAMA. 2018;320(19):2036. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.17797Rosenberg DE, Zhu W, Greenwood-Hickman MA, et al.Sitting time reduction and blood pressure in older adults.JAMA Network Open. 2024;7(3). doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.3234
Ussery EN, Fulton JE, Galuska DA, Katzmarzyk PT, Carlson SA.Joint prevalence of sitting time and leisure-time physical activity among US adults, 2015-2016.JAMA. 2018;320(19):2036. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.17797
Rosenberg DE, Zhu W, Greenwood-Hickman MA, et al.Sitting time reduction and blood pressure in older adults.JAMA Network Open. 2024;7(3). doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.3234
