Can Sitting Too Much Make You ‘Resistant’ to the Health Benefits of Exercise?
New research finds people who sit for around 13 hours per day and walk less than 4,000 steps per day become resistant to the metabolic benefits of exercise.
People who were sedentary for four days showed the same results on a blood test that measured levels of triglycerides, glucose, and insulin, whether they exercised for an hour on the fourth day or not.
Researchers recommend taking at least 8,000 steps per day to avoid becoming “exercise resistant.”
When your smartwatch buzzes its reminder for you to get moving, you might roll your eyes: You already rode today, so shouldn’t you get a pass to take it easy? Maybe not, according to new research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
In their recent study, researchers asked five men and five women-who ranged in fitness levels from untrained to recreationally active-to complete two tasks. First, they had to be sedentary (meaning they sat for around 13.5 hours per day and walked less than 4,000 steps per day) for four days straight without exercising. Then, they had to be sedentary again for four days, but on the end of the fourth day, they completed a hard, hour-long treadmill workout at 64 percent of their VO2 max.
The morning after both four-day stretches, the participants took a high fat-glucose tolerance test (HFGTT), which analyzed the levels of triglycerides, glucose, and insulin in their blood plasma. These metabolic results were striking: the subjects’ blood tests were the same after both four-day periods, suggesting that an hour-long workout cannot offset the effects of sitting for that long.
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“Despite one hour of running, the subjects did not increase fat burning during during the day,” lead author Edward Coyle, Ph.D., told Runner’s World. That’s important, since fat metabolism influences how quickly triglycerides are removed from the blood.
Turns out, what you’re doing in the hours when you’re not on the bike matters. In a previous study looking at active people, or those who take more than 8,000 steps a day, Coyle found that the 60 minutes of exercise was enough to increase their fat metabolism.
“In the present study, running failed to produce this robust effect of acute exercise on increasing fat metabolism,” Coyle said. “Thus, the term ‘exercise resistance’ is appropriate here.”
The key to reaping the benefits from exercise, Coyle explained, is moving more throughout the day-not just standing. In another of his previous studies, Coyle found that even when subjects stood, rather than sat, for 12 hours, they only had small changes in their blood tests.
To avoid becoming exercise resistant, Coyle recommends taking at least 8,000 steps per day-every day. For people who tally up that step count in one bout, you should still take walk breaks throughout the day to boost your metabolism, which could mean walking every hour to the bathroom and taking a half hour stroll around the neighborhood before or after work (think of it as doubling, but less stressful).
“Even if you have plan a run on Saturday, try to be active on Friday,” Coyle said. On top of keeping your engine running smoothly, the extra steps can flush out your legs from hard efforts, and may even keep you injury-free in the long run.
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