A five-minute “exercise snack” every hour can offset the damage of sitting down for long periods, researchers have said.

Walking or moving for five minutes at regular intervals boosted mood, reduced fatigue, and did not affect work performance, a large study revealed.

The health benefits of getting up from an office desk every so often were already known, but this was the first study to test how often five-minute walking breaks should be taken and the respective effect.

Authors, led by Columbia University in New York, said that adults in high-income countries now spend 11 to 12 hours per day sitting down or “sedentary”, which equates to “three-quarters of the waking day”.

“Excessive sedentariness has emerged as a significant public health concern that incurs increased risk of many chronic conditions, poorer mental health and mortality and poses a substantive economic burden to healthcare systems,” they wrote.

Sitting for prolonged periods is thought to have a negative effect on the lower limbs because of the reduced activity in the skeletal muscles and arteries.

However, moving at regular periods can undo or prevent these damaging effects by improving blood flow and reactivating the body’s metabolic processes, such as using fat and glucose for energy.

‘Improve psychosocial well-being’

The researchers said their results suggested “that brief, regular movement breaks (i.e., interruptions to prolonged sitting achieved by walking, such as a five-minute walk every half-hour) can counteract the harmful cardiometabolic effects of prolonged sedentary behaviour and improve psychosocial well-being”.

To test the theory, they examined data from 11,484 people taking part in a US nationwide challenge aimed at moving more by undertaking little movement breaks.

People followed their usual routine for seven days, then chose five-minute walking breaks either every 30 minutes, every 60 minutes, or every two hours for 14 consecutive days.

During the 21 days in total, people filled in questionnaires on their fatigue, mood and work performance.

A random sample of 1,200 full-time employees received five text messages every day at 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm to assess the immediate effect of movement breaks.