Three minutes of yoga lowers diabetes risk

A Three-minute yoga routine every hour at work can lower your risk of diabetes by up to a quarter.

Scientists found that breaking up a day with 180 seconds of the discipline every 60 minutes is good for deskbound staff, in the office or at home.

Being active is key to a healthy lifestyle, and reducing prolonged bouts of inactivity with walks and mini-breaks is widely recommended.

However, a study has now found that yoga may be the best as it reduces blood sugar levels and therefore slashes the likelihood of diabetes – without detracting from productivity.

Some 15 adults in their mid-20s were enrolled by Glasgow Caledonian University. They sat down and imitated an eight-hour work day at a desk. Participants either did no activity, the yoga routine or three minutes of tai chi. Glucose in their blood was measured with a finger prick every 30 minutes.

The results suggested that tai chi had no significant impact – but yoga did.

The sugar in blood decreased by about 10 per cent following the quick-fire yoga “pit stop” approach. The routine was a 16-step regimen that included poses such as downward dog, cobra, warrior, cat-cow and mountain.

Although tai chi did not improve glucose levels, it did have a positive impact on maintenance of concentration and wellbeing.

“Breaking up sedentary behaviour using three-minute bouts of yoga significantly lowers blood glucose in healthy individuals without compromising concentration or wellbeing,” the researchers wrote in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health.

Study lead author Alexander Colvin said: “We don’t have a direct number for the impact of yoga on diabetes risk but extrapolating from the known impact of sedentary time then it would be in the region of a 10 to 25 per cent.”

The boost to concentration provided by the brief exercise also helped counterbalance any drop-off in work output.

“This is also good news for employers who dislike the use of physical activity to break up sedentary time, because they have this misplaced perception that it will negatively impact on production. As we have found it’s quite the opposite,” Mr Colvin added.

“We measured concentration and well-being throughout the study.

“Although there wasn’t a change with yoga and tai chi, at least it didn’t get any worse.”

Prof Sebastien Chastin, co-author of the study, said the findings were just as valuable to workers stuck in the office for five days a week as to those who work remotely.

“Clearly we all spend far too much time sitting in the office or working from home,” he said.

“This shows that short bouts of yoga, that can be done anytime during the day, can be turned into an intervention or reduce the risk of diabetes.”

‘Three-minute bouts of yoga lowers blood glucose without compromising concentration’