More Sit-to-Stand Transitions Benefit Postmenopausal Women

TOPLINE:

Reducing sedentary behavior with interventions such as increasing daily sit-to-stand transitions might help lower blood pressure in postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess how different strategies to reduce time spent sitting affected the physiologic responses of postmenopausal women who led sedentary lives.
• The researchers included 407 women in the postmenopausal phase (mean age, 68 years; 92% White) who had overweight or obesity (average BMI, 32), had a sitting time of at least 7 hours a day, and performed no more than 70 sit-to-stand transitions daily.
• The women were randomly assigned to one of three study arms: healthy living (n = 135), sit less (n = 136), and increased sit-to-stand transitions (n = 136). All arms received seven sessions of individual health coaching over 12 weeks.
• Researchers assessed blood pressure and markers of glucose regulation using fasting blood samples. Readings from thigh- and hip-worn accelerometers for 7 days were used to evaluate posture, sedentary behavior, and physical activity.
• Primary outcomes were measurements of glucose regulation and resting blood pressure at baseline and 3 months.

TAKEAWAY:

• A total of 388 women completed the trial, with no serious adverse events related to the study.
• Participants in the sit-less arm had a daily sitting time of approximately 58 minutes less than those in the healthy-living arm (P < .001), whereas those in the sit-to-stand arm had 26 more sit-to-stand transitions daily (P < .001).
• Diastolic blood pressure fell by 2.24 mm Hg in the sit-to-stand arm compared with the healthy living arm (P = .02); the decrease in systolic blood pressure did not reach a predefined significance level.
• Compared with the healthy-living arm, neither intervention produced significant changes in markers of glucose regulation.

IN PRACTICE:

“Postmenopausal women are at high risk of engaging in large amounts of sitting time and cardiovascular diseases. The present randomized controlled trial adds to existing evidence by demonstrating that within just 3 months, increasing” sit-to-stand transitions can lower diastolic blood pressure, the researchers wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Sheri J. Hartman, PhD, University of California, San Diego. It was published online on July 25, 2025, in Circulation.

LIMITATIONS:

The generalizability of findings was limited by the lack of ethnic and racial diversity. The 3-month intervention period may have been too brief to observe sizeable physiologic changes. Measurement of only fasting glucose parameters could not capture changes after meals.

DISCLOSURES:

This study received support from the National Institute of Aging. Additional support was provided by the Altman Clinical & Translational Research Institute at the University of California, San Diego, funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The authors did not report any conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.