If you’ve spent hours hunched over a desk or sprawled on a couch, you’re not alone. Modern sedentary lifestyles often leave us with tight hips, weak lower body muscles, and poor posture. But what if one simple exercise could counteract these effects? Enter the humble squat — a powerhouse movement capable of reversing the toll that prolonged sitting takes on your body. Among the many variations, a deep squat, commonly known as the "Asian squat," has become popular for its holistic benefits.

A squat is much more than just a lower-body exercise; it's a movement pattern deeply rooted in human biomechanics. From standing up from a chair to bending down to pick something off the floor, squatting mimics functional actions that are part of daily life. But unlike the limited range of motion associated with sitting, squatting engages multiple muscle groups and joints, including your hips, knees, ankles, quads, glutes, and calves.

Physiotherapists say squatting is the foundation of mobility and strength, especially as we age. Squats challenge balance, coordination, and mobility. They are necessary for everything from standing up to maintaining lower-body strength.

Why Sitting All Day Wreaks Havoc on Your Body?

Prolonged periods of sitting will increase muscle imbalance, stiff joints, and reduced flexibility. Your hip flexors become tight, your glutes become inactive, and slouching at the shoulders will affect your posture. Eventually, this will lead to chronic back pain and other musculoskeletal problems. Deep squats can serve as a counter-effect by loosening tight hip flexors, strengthening the core, and improving lower body stability.

How Deep Squat Is Beneficial?

Compared to the average gym squats, the deep squat focuses on range of motion and joint health. To perform a deep squat:

1. Stand with your feet a little wider than hip-width apart, toes angled out.

2. Chest upright and core engaged.

3. Lower your hips as far as your mobility allows to get the thighs below parallel to the floor.

4. Squat with the position held for a long time, balanced and heels on the ground.

This squat variation builds strength in addition to developing flexibility in your hips and ankles. A deep squat is one of the most natural resting positions that a human body assumes. Many cultures have the habit of adopting it as a way of daily life to eat, rest, or socialize.

Customizing Squat As Per Your Body

Everybody's squat is going to look different. It's about hip anatomy, femur length, and just how comfortable your body feels when you put it in certain foot positions, width, and angles.

If balance or ankle mobility is a concern, try the following:

Heel Raise: Place wedges, plates, or books under your heels to elevate them and make it easier to squat deeper.

Add a Counterbalance: Stand holding a light dumbbell or kettlebell in front of you for more balance.

Provide Support: Lower yourself into a squat while having support from an immovable object such as a chair or a wall.

If you’re new to squats, start with bodyweight squats to build strength and confidence. Gradually incorporate variations like goblet squats, split squats, and single-leg squats to challenge your muscles further. For those aiming to add intensity, weighted squats with barbells or kettlebells can enhance muscle growth and endurance.

Long-Term Benefits of Squatting

It provides many benefits, other than aesthetically appealing, such as better strength of the lower limbs, better posture, increased flexibility, and low chances of injury. The most significant advantage is probably maintaining functional independence into old age. Experts point out that a good lower body strength and mobility are crucial to a long life. Squats make you active, thereby reducing your chances of falls and injuries.

Common Challenges

Has difficulty with depth or coordination? Don't be discouraged. Everyone faces their limitations. Constricting hips, weak ankles, or simply poor balance might limit movement for some. Mobility exercises can address these challenges through ankle stretches or hip openers; practice regularly, and remember, change is slow. Keep an eye on form and control and hold the weight lightly.

You don't need fancy gear or a membership to a gym to incorporate squats into your daily routine. Start with three sets of 10-15 bodyweight squats a day, increase in frequency and intensity as you move forward, and do these squats as part of your warm-up, cool-down, or take them between work to counteract sitting.

So the next time you’re tempted to sink into your chair for hours on end, think about how a few deep squats can reset your body and revitalize your health.

Smartwatches and fitness trackers are widely used for counting daily steps and tracking workouts by millions. But the World Health Organization (WHO) is now seeking to task these wearables with bigger responsibilities. The global health body has issued proposals for wearable devices that could help countries measure physical activity and sedentary behaviour across populations.

In a notice published on November 8, WHO invited researchers, health authorities, technology developers and other stakeholders to review a draft Target Product Profile (TPP) for wearable devices worn on wrists. The aim is to ascertain what these devices should be capable of measuring before they are incorporated into national and subnational public health monitoring systems.

The proposal will remain open until December 6, 2026. WHO will use the feedback to revise and finalise the document and inform future implementation guidance.

WHO Want To Use Smartwatches For Public Health Monitoring

Also read: Lancet Study Says Obesity Drug Mazdutide Shows 18% Weight Loss In 32 Weeks: How Does It Compare To Wegovy?

Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. Sedentary behaviour, which involves spending prolonged periods sitting is also the cause of various adverse health outcomes.

Countries currently rely heavily on surveys to understand how physically active people are. However, these often depend on people reporting their own activity, which can lead to inaccurate data.

Wearable devices could provide a more objective way to collect information over a certain period of time. Instead of relying entirely on questionnaires, health authorities could use data from these devices to understand how much people move, how long they remain sedentary and how activity patterns vary across different population groups.

WHO says wearable technology could complement existing surveillance methods as countries work towards improving global physical activity targets.

WHO's Proposed Standards

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The draft TPP outlines minimum specifications for smartwatches intended for population-level monitoring. It considers what makes a device suitable for collecting data across different populations.

The proposed framework covers:

• Measurement capabilities: What physical activity and sedentary behaviour indicators a device should be able to capture.
• Technical specifications: The minimum and additional features required for devices to be suitable for public health surveillance.
• Data access: How information can be retrieved, processed and used by health monitoring systems.
• Implementation: Practical considerations involved in deploying devices across communities and integrating them into existing surveillance programmes.
• Scalability and sustainability: Whether the technology can be used consistently across countries with different resources and technical capacities.

WHO is interested in feedback on whether the specifications proposed are practical and relevant to countries with limited resources.

Why Can't Countries Use Existing Smartwatches?

Although such wearables are widely available, their measurements are not interchangeable. Different manufacturers use different sensors, algorithms and methods to calculate steps, activity levels and sedentary time. As a result, two devices worn by the same person may produce different estimates.

A systematic review published in npj Digital Medicine in January 2026 examined 82 studies evaluating Apple Watch measurements across 14 health metrics. It found that measurement accuracy varied depending on the metric and testing conditions. While heart-rate measurements showed good overall agreement, step counts had moderate accuracy and energy expenditure data was inconsistent too.

This illustrates the need for standardisation. If countries use different devices and measurement methods, comparing physical activity data across populations becomes needlessly challenging.

WHO's proposed framework is intended to address these differences by identifying the device characteristics and protocols needed for consistent data collection.

Cost, access, privacy and digital literacy remain important challenges when it comes to implementing WHO's proposal. People without smartphones, reliable internet access or the ability to buy wearable devices could be underrepresented.

There are also questions about how personal movement data would be stored, shared and protected. Governments would need clear safeguards to ensure that participation is voluntary, data is handled responsibly and findings represent the wider population.

Mazdutide, an experimental weight-loss drug, could soon join the ever-expanding market of GLP-1 medications. The results from a recent clinical trial funded by Eli Lilly has found that mazdutide has shown an average reduction of 18.1% in body weight over 32 weeks. The trial was published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

The findings have drawn attention because the experimental drug produced significant weight loss in less than eight months, establishing its position among existing medicines like Wegovy.

However, the findings come from a phase 2 trial involving 179 participants. Its comparison with existing players like Wegovy are yet to be done formally.

What Did The Mazdutide Study Find?

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Published in November 2026, the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluated mazdutide in 179 overweight or obese adults with overweight but without type 2 diabetes.

Participants, who were recruited from 24 centres in the United States, received the once-weekly injections of different doses of the drug or a placebo. At 32 weeks, the average weight changes were:

• Mazdutide 16 mg: 18.1% reduction in body weight
• Mazdutide 10 mg: 15.6% reduction
• Mazdutide 3–6 mg: 7.3% reduction
• Placebo: 0.9% reduction

The study also reported further weight reductions by week 48, suggesting that weight loss had not reached its maximum by the primary assessment.

However, tolerability of the drug drew attention too. Gastrointestinal problems, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, were among the most common side effects.

Around 20% of participants receiving the highest 16 mg dose quit the treatment because of adverse events, primarily gastrointestinal disorders.

How Does Mazdutide Work?

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Mazdutide works differently from semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. It activates two hormone receptors involved in regulating appetite and metabolism: glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucagon.

GLP-1 helps regulate blood sugar, which slows down emptying of the stomach and increases feelings of fullness, which can reduce food intake.

Glucagon is another hormone involved in regulating blood glucose and energy metabolism. By activating glucagon receptors along with GLP-1 receptors, mazdutide can affect energy expenditure and metabolism in addition to regulating appetite.

This dual action distinguishes it from semaglutide, which primarily targets the GLP-1 receptor.

Mazdutide Vs Wegovy

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Ozempic and Wegovy contain the same active ingredient, semaglutide, but have different approved uses and dosing.

Ozempic is primarily prescribed for type 2 diabetes and certain cardiovascular and kidney conditions, while Wegovy is approved for weight management.Here is how the trial results compare:

Mazdutide 16 mg showed 18.1% weight reduction in 32 weeks. Wegovy 2.4 mg showed 14.9% in 68 weeks.

In the STEP 1 trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2021, participants with overweight or obesity who received semaglutide 2.4 mg lost an average of 14.9% of their body weight over 68 weeks. Participants did not have diabetes.

Although mazdutide's 18.1% result seems higher than the 14.9% reported with Wegovy, the comparison has limitations. The trials differed in duration, participant characteristics, doses and study design. A direct head-to-head trial would be needed to establish which treatment produces greater weight loss.

Is Mazdutide A Promising Weight-Loss Drug?

Mazdutide has also been studied in China. In the phase 3 GLORY-2 trial, participants receiving 9 mg lost an average of 16.65% of their body weight over 60 weeks, compared to 1.50% in the placebo group.

Its recent findings are promising but it is too early to call mazdutide more effective than existing treatments. The US study was a relatively small phase 2 trial, and its highest dose led to a high rate of discontinuation due to adverse events. Larger phase 3 trials are important to establish its long-term effectiveness, safety and tolerability.

"Losing weight isn't about obsessing over diets or rushing to shed pounds."

It is about understanding the reasons behind why a person weighs as much as they do and adopting healthy habits to create long-term success. From an endocrinologist's viewpoint, managing weight involves a thorough approach. Factors such as hormonal imbalances, insulin resistance, thyroid conditions, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), some medications, genetics, and lifestyle choices can all affect body weight. As a result, a single diet or exercise routine may not be equally effective for everyone.

Why Weight Management Needs A Personalised Approach

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Eating a balanced diet high in nutrients is a key principle to weight control. It's advised not to cut out all food groups or eat extreme low amounts of calories, but ensure that your diet includes moderate portions, lots of protein, fibre-dense, foods, veggies, fruits, and good fats. Participating in a regular exercise programme with cardio exercises and resistance training can boost your metabolic health.

Sleep and behaviour are equally vital. Poor sleep can impact hunger hormones and it can cause cravings, then add stress and emotional eating maintenance can be tricky. Keeping to a sleep routine, managing stress and setting realistic targets will aid in developing a lasting habit.

When Are Weight-Loss Medicines Or Surgery Considered?

Assessment of diet there are certain circumstances, when medical assessment would be the next step, such as significant unexplained weight gain, the failure to lose weight despite an effort, and if there is a presence of other manifestations/diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, hormonal problems etc. A personalised evaluation is a review of medical history, medication, and relevant investigations and metabolic risk factors.

Your healthcare professional may recommend prescription weight-management medication to use beyond nutrition and lifestyle management, where your weight management plan is based on your BMI, related health conditions and clinical management. Your healthcare professional will need to monitor treatment with medication. You may also be considered for bariatric surgery where clinically indicated.

It's not about hitting the scales at a lesser weight; the aim should be to achieve good metabolic health, physical fitness and quality of life. The fact is that weight loss is a slow journey, and even small, sustainable weight loss can bring significant health gains. A custom program, ongoing assessment and adequate support will beat fad diets every time."

By Dr Hetashvi Gondaliya, Diabetes & Endocrinology, CK BIRLA HOSPITALS Jaipur