One minute of light‐intensity stair‐stepping decreases postprandial glycaemia in the evening in non‐diabetic adults: A randomized controlled trial

Prior studies have investigated the efficacy of a single 1 min bout of stair-stepping on reducing postprandial blood glucose (BG) in the morning, but none have investigated this effect in the evening when glycaemic responses are larger due to circadian regulation and β-cell responsiveness. This work investigated the efficacy of a 1 min bout of self-selected, low-intensity stair-stepping performed in the evening on reducing the change from baseline to the 60 min time point postprandial BG. Thirty people (43% male, 29 (10) years) participated in a randomized crossover-controlled trial. Participants completed two separate evening trials following an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) (75 g of dextrose dissolved in water): (a) 0 min of stair-stepping seated control condition, and (b) 1 min of stair-stepping condition. One minute of stair-stepping attenuated the change from baseline to 60 min postprandial BG versus control condition (2.5 (2.8) vs. 4.3 (2.3) mmol/L (P < 0.001). Area under the curve (AUC) and incremental area under the curve (iAUC) were lower for the 1 min condition versus control (mean difference = -0.4,95% CI: 0.1-0.8 (P = 0.023) and (mean difference = -0.6, 95% CI 0.1-1.1 mmol/L^-1 min^-1 (P = 0.043), respectively. The modified BORG rate of perceived exertion scale showed participants perceived the exercise as light intensity (1.9 (1.1)). A single, 1 min bout of low-intensity stair stepping at a self-selected pace reduced evening postprandial BG levels following an OGTT in young non-diabetic adults.