Rate My Professor Thomas Yates

Professor Thomas Yates serves as Professor of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Health at the University of Leicester's Diabetes Research Centre within the College of Life Sciences. His research specializes in examining the health consequences of sedentary behaviour and the benefits of physical activity, with a particular emphasis on diabetes prevention, metabolic disease, glucose regulation, and cardiovascular health. Leading the Sedentary Behaviour Research team alongside Dr. Charlotte Edwardson, Yates has demonstrated through extensive studies that adults sit for an average of 9-10 hours daily, with prolonged sitting independently increasing risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality. His work shows that interrupting sitting with frequent short bouts of light-intensity activity, such as standing or walking every 30 minutes, significantly improves cardiometabolic biomarkers including glucose, insulin, and blood pressure levels, with amplified benefits for individuals with high BMI, females, and South Asians.

Yates has co-developed the SMART Work intervention, a randomized controlled trial conducted with Loughborough University, which reduced office workers' sitting time by 80 minutes per day using height-adjustable desks and behavioral strategies, resulting in enhanced work engagement, job performance, reduced fatigue, fewer musculoskeletal issues, and improved quality of life, alongside a £3 return per £1 invested through productivity gains. His influential publications include 'Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death: systematic review and meta-analysis' (Diabetologia, 2012), cited over 2,500 times; 'Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all cause mortality: systematic review and harmonised meta-analysis' (BMJ, 2019), cited over 2,100 times; and 'The effects of high-intensity interval training on glucose regulation and insulin resistance: a meta-analysis' (Obesity Reviews, 2015). This body of work has shaped major public health guidelines, including the UK's 2019 Chief Medical Officer Physical Activity Guidelines as a member of the sedentary behaviour expert group, the World Health Organisation’s guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour, the American Diabetes Association's Physical Activity/Exercise and Diabetes Position Statement, the 2018 USA Physical Activity Guidelines, and the American Cancer Society guideline for diet and physical activity for cancer prevention. Recent research led by Yates using UK Biobank data reveals that for inactive 60-year-olds, adding a daily 10-minute brisk walk associates with 0.9 extra years of life expectancy for women and 1.4 years for men, underscoring the profound impact of modest activity increases on longevity.