Want to spend less time on your devices and more time on your feet in 2025?
We’re here to help with a two-week challenge that can jumpstart your year: Add regular movement breaks throughout your day, ideally 5 minutes every half hour, for two weeks.
For years, research has linked sitting too much with numerous health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. In January 2023, Columbia University Medical Center researchers found that walking for five minutes every 30 minutes was the most effective way to offset the harms of too much sitting, with benefits like lowering glucose levels and blood pressure.
To test this research outside the lab, NPR teamed up with Columbia researchers to conduct a clinical trial. In fall of 2023, over 20,000 participants tried to add movement breaks to their days. Those who managed to succeed reported an average of 25% less fatigue. Even with the interruptions, participants felt they were more productive and more focused at work.
Thousands of listeners told us what helped them stick to their movement breaks, and here are the top five tips.
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First, make a movement plan
What amount of movement can you build into your day? Make sure it’s a reasonable goal—but try to push yourself.
Five minutes every 30 minutes is BEST, but if you can’t swing that aim for every hour or two hours.
Next, recruit someone to join you
Accountability buddies make movement breaks feel less daunting. Think: co-workers taking quick walks or friends encouraging each other via text!
Long distance bestie, husband, kids, co-worker, neighbor? Whoever! Send them this link and take the challenge together.
Then, mix up your movement breaks
Your 5-minute walks don’t have to all be walking or marching in place.
Some participants in our study turned their movement breaks into dance breaks! Others got chores done, like taking out the garbage cans or refilling humidifiers.
Get creative! If standing isn’t an option, chair-based exercises are great too.
Keep going…but take it slow and steady
It’s tempting to get all your movement done first thing in the morning, but studies show one longer workout doesn’t offset the harm of prolonged sitting. There is no replacement for short but regular movement throughout the day.
Sidenote: when we say slow and steady, we mean it! Walking 2 mph is fast enough to get the physical and mental benefits of movement breaks.
Finally, track your progress—but don’t let perfection be the enemy of good
The team at Columbia created this document to help you track your breaks.
Some participants told us that tallying up their breaks motivated them to keep going and helped them be mindful of how their bodies were feeling throughout the day. Others found it helpful to journal.
But missing a break is not the end of the world. Some movement is always better than none!
We want to hear from you!
Send us a voice memo or email us at BodyElectric@npr.org to let us know how it goes!
Sign up for our Body Electric newsletter, or share it with a friend.
Read more details about the findings from our research study with Columbia University Medical Center here.
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This story was written by Fiona Geiran and edited by Manoush Zomorodi and Sanaz Meshkinpour.