Tips for Sitting Less and Moving More
Getting up and moving around throughout the day may help reduce your risk for diabetes – and make diabetes management easier. Here’s how to incorporate more movement into your day.
For many people in the Western world, a lot of time is spent sitting down. Whether it’s in the car for the morning commute, at a desk for work, or on the couch for a bit of relaxation at the end of a long day – a lot of tasks today require sitting.
How much do we sit? According to one study, Americans spend an average of 7.7 hours each day in sedentary behaviors, which include sitting, reclining, or lying down. Cell phones, computers, and public transportation are deeply ingrained in our lives, and they all encourage us to stay seated. Many of us struggle to find time to move much, especially while working all day on computers and trying to stay connected with distant friends and relatives.
Even though it’s difficult, it’s important to make time to get up and move around. For people with diabetes, more movement can improve blood sugar management, reduce stress, and lower the risk of diabetes-related complications.
The link between sitting and diabetes
How much time you spend sitting down can directly affect your overall health. You have probably heard a lot about the benefits of daily exercise, but your daily non-exercise behavior is just as important. Long periods of sitting are linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as heart disease, cancer, and depression.
Sitting may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes because it affects the way your muscles respond to insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps reduce the amount of sugar in your blood. However, cells – including muscle cells – can develop insulin resistance, meaning that more insulin is needed and glucose stays in your blood longer. Studies have found that simply moving and contracting your skeletal muscles can help improve insulin sensitivity.
When you are sitting, especially for long periods of time, you often don’t have the bandwidth to contract your muscles, which may impair blood sugar regulation. Over time insulin resistance can develop, which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Easing in to sitting less
The good news is that you don’t have to devote hours of your day to physical exercise to get the benefits of muscle contraction. A 2025 study showed that people can improve their insulin sensitivity and metabolic health just by sitting a little less and standing a little more. Study participants who sat even just 30 minutes less a day saw improvements in the body’s ability to burn fat and respond to insulin. Researchers found the benefits increased with every half hour of less sitting.
“Making small lifestyle changes, such as walking daily or taking the stairs, may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes,” said April Semon, a public health nutritionist with the New York State Department of Health.
Of course, it would be great to make room for a few sessions of focused cardio and strength training every week, but you don’t have to put on gym clothes or running shoes to become physically active.
Past research tracking physical activity and insulin sensitivity found that accumulated daily activity – including completing household tasks and moving around at work – was the most important factor for determining insulin sensitivity.
How to reduce the amount of time you sit
If you are in the habit of sitting for long periods of time, you may have to make a conscious effort to stand up and move around. But over time, moving frequently could become your new habit. Once you make movement a part of your day, you may not have to think about how to get out of your chair and onto your feet.
Moving when you’re not on the clock
Curling up on the couch with a good book is a great way to relax after work, and if that’s how you reduce stress, you should absolutely make time for it. But whether your homelife allows for hours of leisurely lounging or not, it’s always a good idea to make more time for movement when you can.
Here are some ways you can get moving during your off-hours. Keep in mind these recommendations may not work for everyone – the most important thing is simply to get up and moving regularly throughout the day, whatever that may look like for you and your loved ones:
- Take short, brisk walks: You don’t need to walk four miles, power walk, or break a sweat to reap the benefits – you just need to move. Try to fit in two or three short walks to break up your day. Walking is an easy activity you can incorporate into running errands or social activities.
- Pick the manual option when you can: If deploying a robot vacuum cleaner is only the way to clean up crumbs and pet hair, then by all means, let DJ Roomba have the floor. But if you have the time, sweeping and vacuuming by hand or scrubbing your bathtub are great opportunities to move – it’s good for you and your house.
- Cut back on screen time: Reducing your screen time will benefit you in many ways, including how much you move. We’ve all sat down to check our email or social media for “just a minute,” only to look up an hour later and realize how much time has passed. Try scheduling screen time into specific blocks of time for email, online banking, and even social media and watching TV, and then stay off your device the rest of the day.
- Move while you watch: If you have a certain TV show that you never miss or a mini-series you want to finish, watch it while you walk on the treadmill. Or if you don’t have one, try some bodyweight exercises like squats, situps, and lunges. Do this enough and it could become a habit.
Moving more at work
If you have a job that keeps you on your feet, then you may not need to make all that many changes to your normal routine. However, for those who work office jobs, or jobs that involve sitting for long periods of time, making time to move around is key.
A great first step could be modifying your approach to tasks that you have to do anyway, such as getting to work in the morning. For example, try standing instead of sitting if you’re taking public transportation.
If you have an office job, there are ways you can modify your workspace that could encourage movement. Standing or height-adjustable workstations, which allow people to switch between sitting and standing, have been shown to help workers reduce their sitting time. Even though standing is technically moving, it’s an easier transition to movement from sitting. People are also more likely to stretch and move around while standing compared to sitting.
They can be expensive (though there are budget options), but treadmill desks, which allow users to slowly walk while working, can add more movement to the equation. Studies have found that workers increased their total energy expenditure and metabolic rate using a treadmill desk.
If you work from home and have the resources, consider investing in an adjustable workstation or treadmill desk. If you spend more of your time in an office setting, talk to your employer about purchasing one of these setups for your team.
Even if you must sit at work or can’t afford special equipment, try breaking up your workday with these movement tips:
- Make it a habit to get on your feet while you take phone calls.
- If you need to speak with a coworker, ask them to walk and talk. If appropriate (or you work remotely), try standing during meetings.
- Take regular water breaks that force you to walk to the cooler or kitchen.
- If you have extra energy to burn, implementing short bursts of vigorous activity called exercise snacks throughout your day can be particularly beneficial. This might involve going out to the stairwell and climbing steps for a couple of minutes or busting out your favorite dance moves right in front of your desk.
Use technology
Technology can help you move, too. Apple watches come programmed with a “Time to Stand” reminder that prompts users to stand every 50 minutes, with the goal of standing and moving about for one minute each hour, 12 hours a day. Fitbit devices remind users to walk at least 250 steps each hour from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
These activity prompts differ from other tracking features that smart watches provide. While walking a specific number of steps each day or working out for a set time is great, meeting those goals does not boost your baseline of movement separate from exercise. You might run for an hour each morning but then spend eight hours sitting at a desk. These hourly prompts keep you moving at a low level all day and prevent you from sitting still for hours on end.
Even if you don’t have a smart watch, there are numerous apps you can try out that have the exact same movement prompts.
The bottom line
Modern life makes it too easy – and sometimes requires us – to sit for hours at a time. B with a little planning and effort, you can reduce the amount of time you spend sitting. By building new habits at home and work, and choosing the more physically demanding option whenever you can, you can boost your activity throughout the day. Even just a bit of movement can go a long way for better blood sugar management and overall quality of life.
Learn more lifestyle tips for diabetes management here: