The present study aimed to investigate the effects of an 8-week walking break strategy on vascular endothelial functions in young, healthy office workers.
Twenty-six young-adult sedentary office workers (age 29.9 ± 3.2 years) completed either a walking program or stretching exercise (attention control) program every 1 hour of uninterrupted sitting for 8 weeks. Before and after the intervention, popliteal FMD was measured to represent the vascular endothelial function.
There were no significant differences in any of the demographic variables between the walking intervention and attention control groups at baseline. The participants in the walking group reduced their sitting time by 28 minutes. The popliteal FMD was significantly increased in the walking break group (p 0.001). Moreover, the effect of walking brake on popliteal FMD was greater than that in the attention control group after 8 weeks protocol (p 0.05).
The current study provides preliminary evidence that our walking program may lead to favorable changes in endothelial function associated with chronic disease risk.
The present study provides preliminary evidence that regular intermittent bouts of walking are a potential strategy to mitigate excessive sitting and protect the lower leg vasculature from sitting-induced endothelial dysfunction. Thus, it seems that the human vasculature is remarkable sensitive to alteration in even light-intensity physical activity with high frequency as every hour, as indicated by our study. Moreover, our protocol does not require any equipment that is feasible to perform in a free-living setting, such as work- or home-based, which may have public health implications. Our study confirmed with previous laboratory-based evidence that improvement in endothelial function occurs when individuals move from doing no activity to doing some activity. Messages about the importance of reducing sedentary behavior are relevant to adults who are completely sedentary at work.
walking strategy
endothelial function
