Exercise Intensity and Postprandial Effects of Breaking Sedentary Behavior in Overweight Adults

November 13, 2025 updated by: Muhammed Mustafa Atakan, Hacettepe University

Postprandial Cardiometabolic Effects of Interrupting Sedentary Behavior With Exercise of Varying Intensity in Healthy Overweight Adults

The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to determine whether breaking up prolonged sitting with aerobic or sprint cycling breaks reduces postprandial blood glucose, insulin, CRP, and blood pressure, which are established risk markers for cardiometabolic diseases; and (2) to assess substrate oxidation during this period in order to identify which exercise condition promotes the greatest increase in fat oxidation.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Sedentary behavior (SED) refers to activities such as sitting, lying down, or reclining that require energy expenditure of ≤1.5 MET during the time spent awake. Prolonged and continuous sedentary behavior leads to adverse effects such as abnormal postprandial metabolic responses, insulin resistance, vascular dysfunction, high blood pressure, increased carbohydrate oxidation, and inflammation. Epidemiological data also show that SED increases the risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Experimental studies have shown that 2-5 minutes of low- or moderate-intensity aerobic exercise performed every 20-30 minutes during the postprandial period improves cardiometabolic health by reducing glucose, insulin, and blood pressure during the postprandial period. On the other hand, it is known that short-term sprint interval exercise (SIE) increases insulin sensitivity by rapidly depleting muscle glycogen, improves glucose control, lowers blood pressure, and increases fat oxidation. With these effects, SIE may be a time-efficient method for interrupting SED. Although the cardiometabolic benefits of SIE and aerobic exercise interruptions (AEI) are known, there is a lack of studies comparing the effects of interrupting SED with these two exercise types of different intensities in preventing postprandial cardiometabolic dysfunction. In this context, the aim of the study is to compare the postprandial cardiometabolic effects of interrupting sedentary behavior with AIE and sprint exercise interruptions (SEI) in overweight but otherwise healthy women and men aged 35-45. In this randomized crossover trial, volunteers will participate in three trials: 1) AEI, 2) SEI, and 3) SED. There will be a minimum 3-day washout period between trials. In the SEI and AEI trials, exercise interruptions will be implemented every 30 minutes during the 7-hour sitting period, whereas in the SED trial, participants will remain seated continuously for the entire duration. In all conditions, two meals (breakfast and lunch) will be served 3 hours apart, and the trials will begin, after the breakfast meal is consumed. Venous blood samples taken hourly during the experiment will be used to analyze insulin, glucose, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. In addition, blood pressure will be measured hourly, and fat oxidation will be assessed at the baseline, 2nd, 5th, and 7th hours. The effects of the conditions on glucose and insulin will be evaluated using linear mixed models. A Two-Way (Trial x Number of Repeats) Analysis of Variance for Repeated Measures will be used to detect differences between conditions.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

16

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Beytepe
      • Ankara, Beytepe, Turkey (Türkiye)
        • Hacettepe Sports Science Faculty, Hacettepe Beytepe Clinic
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Hikmet Sercan Toprakoğlu
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Seda Hanife Oğuz Baykal, Associate Professor
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Muhammed Mustafa Atakan, Associate Professor
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Yasemin Güzel, Doctoral faculty member
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Yiğitcan Karanfil, Doctoral faculty member
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • İbrahim Türkel, Doctoral faculty member
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Şükran Nazan Koşar, Professor

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria

  • Being physically inactive (not doing at least 150 minutes/week of structured exercise).
  • Having a physical activity level of <5000 steps/day.
  • Having a BMI between 25 and 29.9 kg/m2.
  • Having a history of regular menstrual cycles for female participants.
  • Having medical examination approval.

Exclusion Criteria

  • Taking any acute or chronic medication or supplement that may affect metabolism.
  • Having an acute or chronic illness that limits exercise (musculoskeletal problems, cardiovascular disorders, respiratory problems, etc.).
  • Consuming tobacco products.
  • Meeting 3 or more of the metabolic syndrome criteria (waist circumference of 102 cm or more in men, 88 cm or more in women, triglyceride level of 150 mg/dL or higher, HDL cholesterol level below 40 mg/dL in men and 50 mg/dL in women, blood pressure of 130/85 mmHg or higher, fasting blood glucose level of 100 mg/dL (5.6 mg/L) or higher).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sedentary: Participants will remain seated for 7 h.
The sedentary condition will take place in a seated position. During the seated condition, volunteers will be seated at a typical desk chair at an appropriate height with hip and knee angles of ~90° and feet flat on the floor. The seating area will include a standard desk chair, a work desk, and the volunteers' personal laptops. Volunteers will be instructed prior to the visit to avoid behaviors such as fidgeting, excessive leg movements, and crossing their legs to minimize potential extraneous effects.
Other: Sedentary Behaviour Intervention
Participants will remain seated for a total duration of 7 hours. During this period, they will be instructed to minimize excessive movement and will only be permitted to rise from the chair for voiding purposes.
Experimental: Breaking up sitting with aerobic exercise interruptions
The protocol that will interrupt sitting with AEI will involve cycle exercises performed at 50% of VO2max for 2 minutes. The W and rpm levels corresponding to 50% of VO2max will be determined using the values recorded during the determination of VO2max.
Other: Aerobic Exercise Intervention
In the aerobic exercise condition, participants will perform 2 minutes of moderate-intensity continuous cycling.
Experimental: Breaking up sitting with sprint exercise interruptions
The protocol that will interrupt sitting with SEI will involve cycle exercises performed at the maximum revolutions per minute achievable within 10 seconds. Immediately before each SEI, volunteers will increase their pedal cadence to the maximum speed they can achieve, after which a pedal load will be applied to the bicycle ergometer and a sprint will be performed against the applied load for 10 seconds. During each sprint, the pedal load will be applied at 0.065 kilograms per kilogram of lean body mass. Since it has been shown to lead to greater peak power output in overweight and obese groups, lean body mass will be used as a reference when determining pedal load, rather than total body mass.
Other: Sprint Exercise Intervention
In the sprint condition, participants will complete a 10-second all-out sprint, as determined during the preliminary test.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Insulin
Time Frame: 7 hour for each experimental condition
Postprandial insulin. Net incremental area under the curve and total area under the curve for each 7 h condition will be calculated for insulin.
7 hour for each experimental condition

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Glucose
Time Frame: 7 hour for each experimental condition
Postprandial glucose. Net incremental area under the curve and total area under the curve for each 7 hour condition will be calculated for glucose.
7 hour for each experimental condition
CRP
Time Frame: 7 hour
Postprandial CRP. Net incremental area under the curve and total area under the curve for each 7 h condition will be calculated for CRP.
7 hour
Substrate oxidation
Time Frame: 0, 2th, 5th, 7th hours
Postprandial substrate oxidation. During each experimental visit, for 7 hours, volunteers' respiratory data will be collected using a direct calorimeter in a seated position for 10 minutes at 0, 2th, 5th, and 7th hours. The volunteers' resting fat and carbohydrate oxidations will be determined from the obtained data.
0, 2th, 5th, 7th hours
Blood pressure
Time Frame: 7 hour
Postprandial arterial blood pressure will be measured hourly for 7 h using an automatic blood pressure monitor with a cuff of appropriate size. The systolic and diastolic BP values measured will be recorded, and the mean arterial pressure will be calculated.
7 hour

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Hacettepe University

Collaborators

Hacettepe University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Şükran Nazan Koşar, Professor, Hacettepe University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

November 25, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 25, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 24, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 13, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

November 17, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 17, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 13, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SBA 25/679

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

We do not plan to share IPD with other researchers due to privacy concerns and ethical restrictions outlined in the study's informed consent procedure.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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