Achy from sitting at a desk all day? Try doing this
Prolonged sitting has been linked to fatigue, weight gain, back and joint pain and chronic diseases including obesity, heart disease and cancer, yet US adults average 9.5 hours of it a day. Columbia University researchers set out to find the smallest dose of movement that counteracts those risks, and a five-minute walk every 30 minutes came out as the most effective strategy. Alongside walking breaks, the piece points to ergonomic fixes and quick, simple stretches, including exercises for screen-strained eyes, as ways to make long desk days less punishing. Thousands of listeners who later tried the walking routine in a public challenge reported back on it.
For you: If your day is desk-bound, the useful unit here is the break, not the workout: short, frequent walks are what the research actually tested.
What it shows: Reported by NPR (health) and not verified by us: we could not trace this story to a published paper, so treat it as news rather than evidence we have checked.