Of everything I’ve written, one article has been read more than any other, by a wide margin: The Second Heart You Never Knew You Had.

It’s about the soleus, a deep muscle in your calf that does something remarkable. Every time it contracts, it squeezes the veins in your lower leg and pushes blood back up toward your heart, against gravity. One-way valves keep that blood from sliding back down. When we sit for hours, that pump goes quiet and blood pools in our legs.

Research from the University of Houston (Hamilton et al., iScience, 2022) found that a simple seated movement, the “soleus push-up”, blunted the rise in blood sugar after meals by up to 52% and lowered insulin needs by about 60% in the people studied. These were small lab studies, but the finding is striking: a muscle most of us have never heard of can change how our body handles a meal.

To try it, sit with your knees at a right angle, feet flat. Lift your heels while keeping your toes down, then let them drop. Keep a steady rhythm while you work, read or watch TV.

I made this short video to bring the article to life. If you’ve never read the full piece, it covers the anatomy, the research and the practical steps in depth:

👉 Read the full article

If you’d like more research like this, both of my newsletters are free:

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If this was useful, please share it with someone who sits all day. Their second heart will thank them.

— Sayer

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The Second Heart: My Most-Read Article, Now…