The CDC website recommends 150 minutes of moderate activity and 2 days of muscle strengthening activity per week, plus activities to improve balance for older adults.

    For some of you, this may sound quite manageable. For others, that sounds like a lot, especially for those who are not feeling well. And the amount of time recommended for exercise can mean that people start but do not continue.

    Therefore, I was happy to see a recent article in JAMA Network Open (PubMed) that showed significant benefit from an intervention to reduce the amount of time participants spent sitting. The investigators provided sitting reduction goals, a standing desk, and a fitness tracker.

    Even though the intervention group did not change their habits as much as the investigators hoped, they did sit less, and their blood pressure went down. Sometimes people focus on weight loss as a way to determine if exercise is helpful, but the participants did not lose weight.

    This study would suggest that moving frequently, even if not strenuously, can pay a dividend in health. So get up and move, perhaps during commercial breaks or while watching a movie or webinar. Build small amounts of motion into your day, and bit by bit you can graduate to more exercise.