Getting up from your desk to go and speak to your colleagues – instead of emailing them – reduces the risk of heart attacks, research shows.

Those who take short breaks away from their seats – lasting as little as a minute – at regular intervals throughout the day are less likely to be overweight and have high blood pressure.

They also substantially reduce the risk of potentially fatal cardiovascular diseases.

Researchers found that people who are on their feet for short periods which add up to more than two hours a day tend to have smaller waists and lower blood pressure.

They studied the habits of 4,757 adults over the course of a week.

Each participant wore an accelerometer, a small device fitted to the hip to measure how much time they spend walking and running.

Their waist size, blood pressure and the level of C-reactive protein in their blood, which is often high in people at risk of heart disease, were also measured.

The researchers, from the University of Queensland in Australia, whose study is published in the European Heart Journal, found that those who took the most breaks had waists up to 4cm smaller than those who were more sedentary.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)