Have a fidget

fidgeting the most because, according to the researchers, there seemed to be something about fidgeting that undid the damage done by sitting.

‘‘Although we know that sedentary behaviour is not something we want to encourage, most of us spend a lot of time sitting,’’ Janet Cade, a professor of nutritional epidemiology, said. ‘‘Physical activity does not offset that negative effect of sitting.’’

She and her colleagues ran a study for more than 20 years into the lifestyle and health of women. One of the questions in it was about fidgeting, with women selfreporting how much they fidgeted on a scale of one to 10. The study confirmed Cade’s hunch that fidgeting might affect health, but she said that she could not explain the mechanism. One obvious possibility, that fidgeting is a form of exercise and so keeps people slimmer, did not fit with the results; fidgeters did not have a lower body mass index.

Finding out what it was that fidgeting did to mitigate the effect of sitting might also explain what it is about sitting that is so bad in the first place. It could be that you simply expend less energy while sitting, or it could be to do with snacking more at your desk.

Studies have considered those factors, though, and it seems possible that there is also something metabolic going on, with your body behaving differently while sitting. If so, one theory is that fidgeting may stop you entering that state.

‘‘Any metabolic changes that occur when fidgeting might have a positive influence,’’Cade said. ‘‘There may be some benefit to these movements of your hands and feet that could have a positive effect on health.’’ However, this did not explain what to do now that the knowledge was available.

‘‘I don’t know if you can train people to fidget,’’ Cade added. ‘‘Could we start to get people fidgeting more?’’ Or maybe, she suggested, at the very least we should not stop people fidgeting. ‘‘In schools a child who is fidgeting shouldn’t be chastised. They should be encouraged.’’