The effect of frequent activity breaks in a free-living environment on glucose control and insulin dose in people with type 1 diabetes

Interrupting prolonged sedentary time with 3 minutes of activity every 30 minutes increased Time in Range (3.9-10 mmol/L) by 13.7% and reduced glycaemic variability by 7.8% across a 48-hour period in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) (Campbell et al., 2023).

However, this was carried out in a controlled laboratory environment with the individuals siting for 7 hours continuously which does not reflect normal behaviour.

Free-living studies in people living with, or at risk of type 2 diabetes demonstrated little or no improvement in glycaemic management (Blankenship et al., 2019, Smith et al., 2021), in contrast to controlled laboratory studies in these populations (Dempsey 2016).

Therefore, our aim is to assess the effect of interrupting sedentary time with regular active breaks under free-living conditions in sedentary individuals with T1D. 118 T1D patients will be randomly allocated to 4-weeks of normal activity (control) or 4 weeks of active breaks (3 mins of walking every 30 min, promoted via text message).

Interstitial glucose concentrations (fGM), insulin dose and physical activity/ postural transitions (ActivPAL) will be monitored before and throughout the 4 weeks.

If effective in free-living conditions this could be a simple approach to improve diabetes management in people with T1D.