Research

Hormonal

The glucose-lowering benefits of physical activity breaks are greater in individuals with higher body mass index (BMI).

If you have a higher BMI, making small physical activity breaks during your workday might be especially effective at keeping your blood sugar levels stable after meals compared to those with a lower BMI.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
BMI was statistically significantly associated with glucose (β = − 0.05, 95% CI − 0.09, − 0.01, p = 0.01) and insulin (β = − 0.05, 95% CI − 0.10, − 0.006, p = 0.03) responses to PA breaks compared with sitting, suggesting that the observed effects were larger in more obese participants.
Roland Loh et al. · Sports Medicine · 2019

Why this rating

Based on meta-regression of included studies, showing statistical significance for glucose and insulin.

Source

Effects of Interrupting Prolonged Sitting with Physical Activity Breaks on Blood Glucose, Insulin and Triacylglycerol Measures: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Roland Loh et al. · Sports Medicine · 2019

DOI 10.1007/s40279-019-01183-w

Meta-analysis · 37 studiesCited 332×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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