Who needs to steer clear of prolonged sitting? Everyone can stand, literally. The World Health Organization’s 2020 physical activity guidelines, based on robust evidence, recommend reduction in sedentary behaviour for adolescents, children and adults especially older adults & pregnant women.

You may wonder, "Isn't the topic of avoiding sitting too obvious to state?"

However, it took until the last 5-10 years for medicine to fully appreciate both risk of prolonged sitting and benefit from reducing it. Even as a doctor, I frequently neglect to consider how significant an impact this apparently humdrum habit has on health. Here’s one case I won’t forget:

Clinic Case Study

A 34-year-old suave content strategy corporate executive, that was also a chronically hyperglycemic patient. Surprising since he had no diabetic family history, sleep complaints or severe stress with a disciplined 40 minute exercise regime 2-3 times per week.

His glucose levels didn't dip below normal, despite weight and body fat optimisation. I found myself at a dead end.

I put on my detective hat and investigated his daily routine: it went thus:

- Morning routine: dashes out after brushing, an hour-long commute in a seated position.

— Sitting continuously through work hours; reports, slides, meetings.

— Lunch: Desk worker orders in food, eats and naps for a bit.

— Afternoon: Meetings one after the other, sitting again and preparing follow-ups.

— Evening: Eats dinner, visits with colleagues while seated then commutes for an hour back home.

— Night: Lies on couch scrolling short videos, showers and sleeps.

Total time sitting? Approximately 14.5 hours a day (8 AM to 11 PM), getting up only when food or car called for it, totalling less than 30 minutes of movement.

Simply put: stand up for 5-10 minutes every 90 minutes, and stay physically active during 30-minute periods after lunch/dinner. His blood glucose level was fully normalized.