New research published this month in Experimental Physiology suggests just 10 minutes of sitting or lying down could be enough to impair blood vessel function in the lower legs, but simple movements and foot exercises can work against that strain to restimulate blood flow and circumvent any deleterious effects.
It’s established that long periods of sedentary behavior contribute to poor vascular health, corresponding author Paul Fadel, MS, PhD, and colleagues said in the journal. But their new study is the first to demonstrate reduced blood flow in the legs after such a short period of sitting. The paper also found a reduction in small blood vessel function when participants were lying down.
Fadel, the associate dean for research at the University of Texas, Arlington, and his team tested the utility of simple exercises—namely extending the foot back and forth every two seconds for a third of the time spent sedentary—in restoring blood flow to the legs of 18 healthy, young male patients. The researchers used Doppler ultrasound alongside the knee to measure blood flow and vessels in each participant before and after a 10-minute period of sitting or lying down.
Staying sedentary for that short window resulted in a reduced ability for participants to rapidly increase blood flow to their lower legs, the authors said, meaning small blood vessels were almost immediately affected. But, unlike some previous studies, patients’ arteries were left intact rather than widening to accommodate for increased blood flow.
The foot exercises seemed to successfully combat the negative effects of sitting or lying down, Fadel and co-authors said, and helped the men involved maintain rapid increases in blood supply to their limbs. But they said the findings can’t be extended to women or other areas of the body, so more research is necessary.
“These findings further our understanding of the negative impact of inactivity on blood vessel function and demonstrate the positive effects of simple leg exercises whilst lying down, providing further insight into how inactivity affects vascular health of the lower legs,” Fadel said in a release.
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.