Boosting Heart Health for Postmenopausal Women through More Movement

A recent study from the University of California, San Diego, has shed light on the significance of increased standing movements for postmenopausal women, particularly those who are overweight or obese. The research illustrates that by simply standing up more frequently throughout the day, these women may enhance their heart health, particularly through reductions in blood pressure.

Published in the journal Circulation, the study suggests that intermittent standing breaks, even without substantial increases in vigorous exercise, can benefit cardiovascular health.

“Public health messaging urges us to sit less but doesn’t tell us the best ways to do that. Our findings suggest that while sitting less is beneficial, interrupting prolonged sitting with short standing breaks—regardless of total sitting time—can support healthy blood pressure and enhance overall health,”

Sheri Hartman, Ph.D., first author and professor at UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science

The research, part of the Rise for Health Study—a randomized controlled trial—focused on modifying sitting behaviors and assessing their physiological effects on blood pressure and blood sugar levels in postmenopausal women. This demographic is particularly vulnerable due to sedentary lifestyles, which increase risks for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and premature mortality.

Over a three-month period, the study examined two distinct behavioral interventions:

• Sit Less Group: Participants aimed to reduce their daily sitting time.
• Sit-to-Stand Group: Participants concentrated on rising from a seated position more frequently throughout the day.

A control group received general health advice without specific instructions to modify sitting behaviors.

The results revealed that while the “sit less” group managed to decrease their sitting time by an average of 75 minutes each day, only limited improvements were observed regarding blood pressure, which did not achieve statistical significance. In contrast, participants in the sit-to-stand group increased their standing activity by an average of 25 times daily, resulting in a noteworthy decrease in diastolic blood pressure by 2.24 mmHg compared to the control group. Although this change fell short of the clinically significant range (3-5 mmHg), it nonetheless indicates that enhancing sit-to-stand transitions can beneficially influence blood pressure within three months.

The researchers posit that more pronounced health benefits may require longer intervention periods. Consequently, they plan to conduct further research examining these behaviors over extended durations in both older men and women.

“What excites me most about this study is that women set their own goals and realized a genuinely positive change in their sitting habits. With minimal coaching, we can modify our behaviors to sit less, greatly impacting our health in both the short and long term,” noted co-author Andrea Z. LaCroix, Ph.D., a distinguished professor at UC San Diego.

Dr. LaCroix further emphasized that adopting straightforward, realistic interventions aligned with personal goals—like standing up 25 additional times per day—can be achievable for many individuals.

The study involved several co-authors, including Dorothy D. Sears, Loki Natarajan, and others from UC San Diego and various collaborating institutions such as Arizona State University and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia. Funding for this research was partly provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), specifically through the National Institute on Aging (P01 AG052352). Additional support came from the UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute, backed by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR001442).