Scientists from the Turku PET Centre and the UKK Institute found reducing daily sedentary time can have a positive effect on the risk factors of lifestyle diseases already in three months.
Spending just one hour less sitting daily and increasing light physical activity can help in the prevention of these diseases.
The research is published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport and was conducted by Taru Garthwaite et al.
Type 2 diabetes and heart diseases are the most common chronic diseases globally.
The risk of developing these diseases is increased particularly by overweight caused by physical inactivity and unhealthy diet, and metabolic disorders often associated with it.
Regular exercise is well known to be beneficial in weight management and disease prevention.
However, many adults do not meet the weekly recommendation of 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise, and the majority of the day is typically spent sitting.
In the study, the team examined people who were sedentary and physically inactive working-age adults with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart diseases.
The researchers compared two groups: the intervention group was guided to reduce their sitting time by one hour per day through increasing standing and light-intensity physical activity, and the control group was instructed to maintain their usual habits and sedentary lifestyle.
The intervention group managed to reduce sedentary time by 50 minutes per day on average, mainly by increasing the amount of light- and moderate-intensity physical activity.
In the three-month period, the researchers found benefits in health outcomes related to blood sugar regulation, insulin sensitivity and liver health in the intervention group.
The team says it is an encouraging thought that health benefits can be achieved by reducing the time spent sitting and increasing the amount of even light-intensity physical activity.
For many, this may be an easier starting point than increasing actual exercise.
It is likely that people who do not meet the weekly physical activity recommendations will benefit the most from replacing sedentary time with light physical activity.
However, reducing sedentary time is probably not enough in itself to prevent diseases if the person has several risk factors of diabetes and heart diseases, the researcher says.
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