Is Fidgeting Good for Your Heart?

The average person spends about 8 hours a day sitting. And all this sitting has negative health effects – such as increased risk of obesity, diabetes, certain cancers, and premature mortality.

Sitting also impacts our ability to circulate blood effectively. When we remain seated for long periods of time, we allow our arteries to stiffen which increases our risk of high blood pressure and ultimately developing atherosclerosis – a condition where a buildup of cholesterol and fat makes the arteries narrower so less blood can flow through. If left untreated, atherosclerosis can lead to a heart attack, stroke, or even heart failure.

Luckily, the negative effects of being sedentary can be countered by simply standing up and doing light movement. Unfortunately, there are many situations in which we're unable to do so – such as driving in a car, a cross-country flight, or a long meeting.

Research published in The American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology found that in such cases of prolonged sitting, fidgeting helps. Often thought of as nervous behavior – your toe tapping and leg bouncing might be an easy and effective way to combat the decline in blood flow from sitting for long periods.

In a laboratory study, Dr. Padilla and his colleagues recruited 11 healthy college students and, using ultrasound and a blood pressure cuff, determined the level of normal blood flow through one of the main arteries in their legs and then assessed how well that artery responded to changes in blood pressure, which is a marker of arterial health.

Then each student sat for three hours in the lab. The students could study, work on their laptop, talk on their cell phone or otherwise entertain themselves but, for those three hours, they had to remain seated.

While sitting, the students were asked to fidget one leg intermittently, tapping one foot for one minute and then resting it for four minutes, while the other leg remained still throughout. A clock chimed to let them know when to either start or stop fidgeting. On average, the participants moved their feet 250 times per minute. Over the course of the three hours, the researchers monitored the blood flow in the students’ leg arteries.

The researchers found that the leg that was fidgeting and tapping had a noteworthy increase in blood flow, while the stationary leg had a reduction. More striking, at the end of the three hours, when the researchers again tested the ability of the students’ arteries to respond to changes in blood pressure, the vessel in the unmoving leg no longer worked as well as it had during baseline testing, which suggests it was already not as healthy as it had been. But the artery in the students’ fidgeting leg responded as well as or better than it had at baseline to changes in blood pressure.

Of course, the study was small, short term, and involved only healthy young people. Nonetheless, the findings are intriguing and highlight that the detrimental vascular effects of prolonged sitting may be preventable with leg fidgeting.

So, if you can’t walk around during your next lengthy meeting, flight, or cross-country car ride try tapping your toes. And if your co-worker, spouse, or aisle mate is annoyed, tell them that science now says that fidgeting is medicine. Bottom line – any movement is definitely healthier than no movement.