24 hours a day, sitting, standing, moving, sleeping, this is the right allocation →

Compiled by: Gong Zixin

Our 24 hours a day

It consists of 4 types of behaviors:

Sitting, standing, side activities, and sleeping

These 4 behaviors are linked to metabolic health and blood sugar control

And their effects on health are interrelated

Changing the amount of time spent on one of the behaviors

will necessarily change the time spent on another behavior

So

How should the 24 hours of a day be allocated?

A new study suggests the best combination

Although the 24-hour guidelines are informed by a large body of evidence, a common limitation is the lack of relevant findings from studies that have adopted a component analysis approach. Determining the optimal balance of 24-hour behavioral time use combinations (sitting, standing, physical activity, and sleep) and the relationship of cardiometabolic health and glycemic control markers to combined techniques could further inform the 24-hour guidelines and provide more precise targets for improving disease risk and disease management.

Methods: A total of 2388 participants aged 40-75 years (48.7% women, mean age 60.1 years; 684 with type 2 diabetes) in the Maastricht Study were examined. Compositional isometric log odds were generated according to mean 24-h use time (sitting, standing, light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and sleep) and were clustered according to participants' waist circumference, fasting glucose, 2-h plasma glucose, and other scores, as well as cardiometabolic risk scores. Overall analyses were adjusted for demographics, smoking, dietary intake, and diabetes status, and interactions by diabetes status were examined separately. Equitemporal permutations were used to determine the estimated difference when replacing 30 minutes of one behavior with another.

To determine the optimal time allocation, the researchers analyzed all possible 24-hour behavior combinations within the study footprint (1st-99th percentiles for each behavior) to identify the cross-sectional combinations associated with the best outcomes (top 5%) for each outcome measure.

Combining all the results, the average (range) best combination of 24-hour time allocations is:

Sitting for 6 hours

(5 hours and 40 minutes to 7 hours and 10 minutes)

Standing 5 hours 10 minutes

(4 hours and 10 minutes to 6 hours and 10 minutes)

2 hours 10 minutes of light physical activity

(2 hours to 2 hours 20 minutes)

2 hours and 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity

(1 hour 40 minutes ~ 2 hours 20 minutes)

Sleep 8 hours and 20 minutes

(7 hours and 30 minutes to 9 hours)

Overall, less sitting time per day, more standing time, more physical activity and sleep were associated with better cardiometabolic health and had the greatest health benefits. Compared with participants with normal glucose metabolism, the associations were significantly stronger in participants with type 2 diabetes, especially when replacing sitting with light physical activity or moderate to vigorous physical activity, the estimated benefits for waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, etc. were greater in participants with type 2 diabetes.

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