Researchers at the University of Missouri found that reducing daily physical activity for just 5 days led to decreases in insulin sensitivity and higher postprandial glucose in young, healthy men. A return to exercise for 1 day did not reverse this trend:
Acute Inactivity Impairs Glycemic Control but Not Blood Flow to Glucose Ingestion, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, September 2014
Results: Insulin sensitivity was decreased by [5 days of reduced activity (RA5)]. Likewise, free living [glycemic control (GC)] measures of peak post prandial blood glucose was significantly increased at RA5. Interestingly, insulin sensitivity and GC as assessed by peak PPG were not restored after [return to activity for 1 day].
Conclusions: Thus, acute reductions in physical activity impaired GC and insulin sensitivity; however blood flow responses to an OGTT were not affected. Further, a 1 day return to activity was not sufficient to normalize GC following 5 days of reduced daily physical activity.
Co-author Paul Fadel said:
The impairment we saw in just five days was quite striking. It shows just how susceptible the vascular system is to physical inactivity.
Co-author John Thyfault:
We need to teach and explain to people about the physiology of their bodies and the physiology of the disease process and help them understand that inactivity plays a foundational role in the disease process. Then we give them behavioral tools, like pedometers, to monitor and help them achieve higher physical activity so they start to see and feel health improvements. These studies are proof we need to get people to understand their activity every day plays a role in their health, and that their health is not simply a matter of body weight and how they look in the mirror.