Referring a study published in British Journal of Sports Medicine, David Neal writes in ScienceAlert “about 30-40 minutes per day of building up a sweat” is essential to compensate the negative health impact of a day at a desk.

According to the study, “up to 40 minutes of ‘moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity‘ every day is about the right amount to balance out 10 hours of sitting still” writes David Neal.

In active individuals doing about 30-40 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity, the association between high sedentary time and risk of death is not significantly different from those with low amounts of sedentary time.

From the published paper.

The World Health Organization 2020 Global Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour, put together by 40 scientists across six continents.

Commenting on the guidelines, Emmanuel Stamatakis, a physical activity and population health researcher from the University of Sydney in Australia, reportedly said “These guidelines are very timely, given that we are in the middle of a global pandemic, which has confined people indoors for long periods and encouraged an increase in sedentary behaviour”.

“People can still protect their health and offset the harmful effects of physical inactivity. As these guidelines emphasise, all physical activity counts and any amount of it is better than none.”

“Although the new guidelines reflect the best available science, there are still some gaps in our knowledge. We are still not clear, for example, where exactly the bar for ‘too much sitting’ is. But this is a fast-paced field of research, and we will hopefully have answers in a few years’ time,” told Stamatakis, who wasn’t involved in the meta-analysis but is the co-editor of the BJSM.