University students logged less daily movement and more sitting than adults in their 70s

What the research found

Study (wearable observation). Ju Lynn Ong, Shuo Qin, Michael Chee, and colleagues report in BMC Med. (doi 10.1186/s12916-026-05192-1; EurekAlert 13 September 2026; Singapore note 14 September) on four weeks of Oura Ring data from 1,967 adults in three Singapore cohorts: university students (mean age about 20), working-age adults (mean age about 41), and community-dwelling older adults (mean age about 74). Students averaged 320 minutes of daily physical activity, versus 347 minutes in working-age adults and 420 minutes in older adults. Students also sat the most, 634 minutes a day (over 10.5 hours), compared with 581 minutes for working adults and 501 minutes for older adults. Students set aside the least time for sleep (432 minutes) versus 446 and 456 minutes; older adults had the shortest actual sleep because their sleep was more fragmented. Older adults stayed active through the day on weekdays and weekends. Student weekday movement clustered around class changes and fell by about 30 minutes on weekends. In working-age and older adults, a compositional analysis tied shifting 30 minutes of sitting toward any movement, including light walking, to more favorable markers of obesity and arterial stiffness. That 30-minute finding is an association in the older groups, not a trial that assigned students to move more. Educational notes on movement, not personal training advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine / EurekAlert