Squats or walking: 10 squats every 45 minutes vs walking for 30 minutes, fitness expert explains which is better

Taking care of your health is important now more than ever. The modern lifestyle often revolves around sedentary habits like sitting for long periods and limited movement. Regular exercise is crucial to reducing the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to incorporate regular exercise into your daily routine. It has been proven that exercise can improve your heart, brain and gut health, and even prevent cancers. Not just that, it can even be your best bet in reversing your age.

A recent study even found that regular exercise, physical activity, and fitness may influence epigenetic aging and potentially reverse it! A recent study by the researchers at Tohoku University found that exercise may slow epigenetic aging, which can influence your biological age. "Collectively, these findings suggest that increased leisure-time physical activity and reduced sedentary behavior may have beneficial effects on epigenetic aging," the researchers said. “These findings suggest that maintaining physical fitness delays epigenetic aging in multiple organs and supports the notion that exercise as a geroprotector confers benefits to various organs.”

While all types of exercise are linked with health benefits, a recent study looked at something specific - 10 squats every 45 minutes vs walking for 30 minutes straight, in a day. A 2024 study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science looked at how short frequent breaks from sitting, compared to a single long walk, can impact blood sugar levels in the body.

To understand if short breaks in between prolonged sitting are better than a single continuous walk in a day, the researchers analysed 18 participants, who were men with obesity or who were overweight. The average age of the participants in this randomized controlled trial was 21. The participants were given four different tasks on different days.

• Prolonged sitting for 8.5 hours.
• One 30-minute walk at a slow pace in a day.
• A 3-minute walk every 45 minutes (10 times total).
• A 3-minute squatting session every 45 minutes (10 times total).

These activities were matched for energy expenditure and time.

The researchers measured the postprandial glycemic levels, which are the blood sugar levels after eating, in all four activities. They found that all three activities have fewer blood sugar spikes compared to prolonged sitting.

They also noticed that the short breaks in between, both walking and squats, resulted in greater reductions in post-meal glucose levels when compared to the single 30-minute walk.

“These findings suggest that how you break up sitting time may

The study found that taking short, regular breaks from prolonged sitting can help to control blood sugar levels more effectively than going for a single long walk in overweight and obese men. In this case, squats were more effective than the single long walk.

If you have a sedentary lifestyle, which includes a desk job that requires sitting for long periods, take short breaks in between to move. You can either walk or squat, depending on your fitness level, health, and circumstances. This is more effective than a gym session or a long day. Improving blood sugar levels will lower your risk of metabolic diseases. Remember, moving often is better than moving all at once. Short bouts of activity spread throughout the day are better than one single workout per day.