A new study from UC San Diego has found that frequent sit-to-stand movements can positively impact heart health in postmenopausal women. The study underscores the benefits of standing more often as a simple and effective wellness strategy.
A new study led by the University of California San Diego reveals that a daily habit as simple as standing up more frequently can lead to significant heart health benefits for postmenopausal women. The research indicates that women who transitioned from a sitting to a standing position more often during the day experienced measurable improvements in blood pressure.
This study, published in the journal Circulation, focused on the potential cardiovascular benefits of taking short standing breaks, even without incorporating intense exercise.
“Public health messaging urges us to sit less but doesn’t tell us the best ways to do that. Our findings suggest that while sitting less was helpful, interrupting sitting with brief standing breaks — even if you don’t sit less — can support healthy blood pressure and improve health,” first author Sheri Hartman, a professor at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, said in a news release.
The Rise for Health Study employed a randomized controlled trial to investigate the physiological impacts of altering sitting behaviors among postmenopausal women. This group is particularly susceptible to cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer and premature death due to their tendency to spend significant portions of their day sitting.
The researchers divided participants into three groups:
- The “sit less” group aimed to reduce their daily sitting time.
- The “sit-to-stand” group focused on increasing the frequency of rising from a sitting position.
- A control group, which received general health advice but maintained their usual sitting habits.
Over the three-month study period, the sit-to-stand group stood up an average of 25 times more each day, resulting in a reduction of 2.24 mmHg in their diastolic blood pressure compared to the control group. While this change did not reach the clinically significant threshold of 3-5 mmHg, it is a promising indicator of the benefits of frequent standing.
Interestingly, while the “sit less” group reduced their sitting time by 75 minutes per day and showed improvements in blood pressure, these did not meet statistical significance.
Additionally, neither group saw significant changes in blood sugar levels.
The researchers believe that more extended periods might be necessary to observe more significant effects, and they have submitted a new grant to study these behaviors over a longer term in both older men and women.
“What excites me most about this study is that women set their own goals and made a real difference in their sitting behaviors. With a little coaching, we can teach ourselves to sit less and it makes a tangible difference to our short- and long-term health,” added co-author Andrea Z. LaCroix, a distinguished professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science.
The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and other key institutions, highlights an efficient and realistic strategy for improving heart health — by simply standing up more often.
Additional co-authors from UC San Diego, Northwestern University, Arizona State University and several Australian institutes contributed to this comprehensive study.