AHA: Cutting a Few Minutes of Sedentary Time Reduces Teens’ Risk for Insulin Resistance

TUESDAY, March 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Shifting even a few minutes from being sedentary to either sleep or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) reduces insulin resistance in teens, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2026 Scientific Sessions, held from March 17 to 20 in Boston.Soren Harnois-Leblanc, Ph.D., R.D., from Harvard University in Boston, and colleagues used data from the ongoing Project Viva prebirth cohort (1999 to 2002) to analyze how the proportion of time spent in sleep, sedentary time, light physical activity (LPA), and MVPA in early adolescence was associated with glucose, insulin, and adiponectin in late adolescence. The analysis included 394 adolescents with both accelerometer and outcome data.The researchers found on average in a 24-hour period, 33 percent of time was spent on sleep, 48 percent on sedentary activities, 17 percent on LPA, and 2 percent on MVPA. For those who allocated more time toward sleep or MVPA instead of sedentary time in early adolescence, lower Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) was seen in late adolescence (median age, 17.5 years). For example, reallocating 30 minutes of sedentary time to MVPA or to sleep was associated with a 14.8 percent or 4.7 percent reduction in HOMA-IR, respectively. No significant change in HOMA-IR was seen for reallocating to LPA. There were no significant associations for 24-hour activity composition and either adiponectin or fasting glucose."Our findings mean that switching from sedentary behaviors to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity or sleep, even if it is only a few minutes per day to start, was beneficial for health," Harnois-Leblanc said in a statement.Press ReleaseMore Information.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

AHA: Cutting a Few Minutes of Sedentary Time Reduces Teens’ Risk for Insulin Resistance

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