The 3-minute yoga flow to reduce your diabetes risk, lower your stress levels – and get in shape!

Scientists have found that doing simple yoga exercises for just three minutes every hour can reduce the risk of diabetes by up to a quarter.

And it gets even better: for some exercises you don't even have to get up.

Researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University asked 15 young adults to sit at a desk for eight hours and either remain still or do 180 seconds of yoga or tai chi every hour.

Tai chi had no significant effect. But those who did yoga poses such as downward dog, cobra, warrior and mountain lowered their blood sugar levels by about 10 percent.

Let's not forget the wider benefits of yoga: it strengthens and lengthens muscles (making you tighter and toned), and increases endurance, balance and flexibility, which is great if you want to boost your sex life, physically robust want to stay in middle age and surpass or advance your mental health.

The study's findings come as no surprise to leading yoga instructor Marianne O'Neill, who teaches at AMP at the Corinthia hotel, which is frequented by celebrities including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Daniel Craig and Jennifer Lawrence.

'Yoga has so many benefits – not just for diabetes, but also for anxiety, stress and weight. And that doesn't have to take long,” she says.

Set a timer on your phone and complete as many sun salutations as you can in three minutes. Or perform a spinal twist, holding for a minute and a half on each side.

Or you can do a cobra first and then a downward dog, each for a minute and a half. Repeat your micro session of yoga al deskko eight times a day, just three minutes per hour, and reap all the benefits without missing a single work deadline…

Seated stretching

Beginners can sit on a chair. You can also sit cross-legged on the floor and breathe slowly through your nose. Hold your breath for four counts, then relax and exhale slowly, lowering your shoulders. Repeat three times.

Inhale as you raise your arms above your head, then interlock your fingers and push your palms upward. Lengthen your torso, contract your core and hold. As you exhale, lean to the left, push with your palms, straighten your arms and lengthen along the right side of the body. Then raise your arms above your head and lean to the right, extending along your left side.

Spinal twist

Sit cross-legged on the floor – or, if this causes discomfort, sit on a chair with your knees together and feet flat on the floor. Open your arms wide and twist from the base of your spine, placing your left hand on your right knee and your right hand behind you, with your fingertips touching the floor or chair seat.

Breathe slowly and deeply. Sit up straight and roll your right shoulder back. Repeat on your other side. Each twist helps with digestion because it gets your system moving. It's also great for hip flexibility and stretches the chest, shoulders and back.

Ozempic, which has received a lot of media attention for helping with weight loss, is primarily used to treat diabetes

Sphinx pose or cobra

The cobra pose—you lie flat on your stomach, your arms at your sides, and you rise from the waist like a snake—strengthens the abs, core and spine, and even the glutes when you engage them. Some people say this stretch also compresses their lower back.

I recommend a variation for beginners: the sphinx pose. Place your elbows on the floor, in line with your chest, with your forearms flat in front of you. Keep looking at the mat and stay low. Raise your upper body to a comfortable place, push your chest forward and keep your shoulders back. Hold this position for 30 seconds.

Downward dog

Start on all fours, hands on the mat shoulder-width apart. Lift your knees off the mat and keeping your hands flat, lift your hips and press your heels into the floor until you form a triangle shape. Straightening your legs can hurt, so bend your knees if necessary.

Push away from your hands so that you straighten your arms and keep your butt high in the air. Hold for a few moments. This releases the tension and gets the blood pumping faster.

Warrior II

Stand up straight, feet hip-width apart. Step your right foot back and rotate it outward 90 degrees, bending your left knee – in line with your left ankle. Extend your arms horizontally on either side of you – left arm in line with your left leg, right arm over right leg. Turn your head so that your gaze is aligned with your left fingertips. Keep your spine vertical. A wonderful stretch for balance, flexibility and endurance.

Sun salutation

Sitting for long hours contributes to the risk of diabetes. This movement helps control blood sugar levels.

Start in mountain pose with arms at your sides and palms facing up. Inhale, extend your arms above your head, straighten and extend them.

Exhale and slowly bend forward from your hips, pulling your core in until your fingers touch the floor. Bend your knees if that's easier. Inhale, flattening your spine until your torso is horizontal – a 'half lift'.

Exhaling, place your hands on the floor and step back into a plank. Lower your knees-chest-chin to the floor. Breathe into the cobra. Exhale into downward dog. Inhale, step or jump forward – lift halfway. Exhale, bend forward. Inhale, roll up and reach your arms above your head. Exhale, return to the mountain.

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