Does sedentary time increase in older adults in the days following participation in intense exercise?

Background: Older adults have the highest sedentary time across all age groups, and only a small portion is meeting the minimum recommendations for weekly physical activity. Little research to date has looked at how changes in one of these behaviours influences the other.

Aim: To assess changes in 24-h movement behaviours (sedentary time, light intensity physical activity (LPA), moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) and sleep) over three consecutive days, following acute bouts of exercise of varying intensity in older adults.

Methods: Participants (n = 28, 69.7 ± 6.5 years) completed a maximal exercise test and the following exercise protocols in random order: moderate continuous exercise (MOD), high-intensity interval exercise (HI) and sprint interval exercise (SPRT). A thigh-worn device (ActivPAL™) was used to measure movement behaviours at baseline and the 3 days following each exercise session.

Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that compared to baseline, participants decreased MVPA in the 3 days following all exercise sessions and decreased LPA following HI and SPRT (p < 0.05). Over half of the sample had clinically meaningful increases in sedentary time (30 min/day) in the days following exercise participation.

Discussion: Older adults who compensate for exercise participation by reducing physical activity and increasing sedentary time in subsequent days may require behavioural counseling to ensure that incidental and recreational physical activities are not reduced.

Conclusion: It appears that older adults compensate for acute exercise by decreasing MVPA and LPA, and increasing sedentary time in the days following exercise. Future research is needed to determine whether compensation persists with regular engagement.