Hourly movement breaks offer best balance between wellbeing and productivity, study finds

Taking five-minute movement breaks every hour offers the best balance between improving wellbeing and maintaining work performance, according to a large new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Researchers found that regular walking breaks throughout the working day reduced fatigue, improved mood and increased work engagement without negatively affecting productivity. The findings suggest that hourly movement breaks may be a practical way for employers to help reduce the health risks associated with prolonged sitting.

The study involved more than 19,000 adults who took part in a two-week intervention known as the Body Electric Study. Participants chose to take five-minute walking breaks every 30 minutes, every hour or every two hours while continuing their normal daily routines.

Although all three schedules were found to be feasible and acceptable, the researchers concluded that hourly breaks provided the best balance between effectiveness and practicality. More frequent breaks every 30 minutes produced the greatest improvements in wellbeing but proved harder for participants to maintain, while breaks every two hours were easier to fit into the day but delivered smaller benefits.

Across the study, participants reported lower levels of fatigue, more positive mood and higher work engagement after introducing regular movement breaks. Importantly for employers concerned about interruptions to the working day, none of the movement schedules resulted in a decline in self-reported work performance.

The researchers said the findings help address one of the key barriers to encouraging movement during the working day. While laboratory studies have previously shown that regular activity can offset some of the harmful effects of prolonged sitting, there has been limited evidence on whether such interventions can be successfully adopted in everyday working life.

Adults in high-income countries now spend an estimated 11 to 12 hours each day sitting, much of it during working hours. Previous research has linked prolonged sedentary behaviour with increased risks of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, poorer mental health and premature mortality.

The researchers argue that brief movement breaks represent a simple public health intervention that could complement existing guidance encouraging people to “sit less and move more”. Rather than focusing solely on structured exercise before or after work, they suggest that regular interruptions to sitting throughout the day could offer meaningful physical and psychological benefits.

The study also found high levels of acceptance among participants regardless of the movement schedule they selected, suggesting that allowing people flexibility over when they take breaks may encourage greater long-term adoption.

The authors conclude that hourly five-minute movement breaks provide a realistic compromise between health benefits and workplace practicality, making them suitable for wider implementation and future public health guidance. They add that further research should examine whether similar benefits are sustained over longer periods and whether movement breaks also improve physical health outcomes outside controlled study conditions.