Ah yes, exercise. The delightful activity we often think about doing more of but somehow don’t seem to find a way to make it happen.
This can leave you feeling guilty, blobby and unfit.
If this is you, it’s me too.
I know how important being sufficiently physically active is to my physical and mental health.
And yet, too often work gets in the way, or is given priority.
I might plan to go to the gym, but then my husband needs the car, or I have an unscheduled meeting I’m required to attend.
It’s frustrating.
So, how can we change our behaviour?
If you’re fighting a losing battle with exercise, it’s time for a reframe.
It’s called exercise snacking.
And if you, like me, think, “Oh, here we go, another fad”, the science shows this can work in our over-busy, overscheduled lives.
What is exercise snacking?
You can think of this like eating one biscuit from the packet rather than the whole lot in one go. Having frequent snacks across your day means you do end up consuming the packet, but in a more sustainable and efficient way.
If you’ve been brought up to think that exercise is something you must do in longer periods of time – like a 50-minute session at the gym, a 30-minute swim, playing team sports on the weekend or going for a 2-hour round of golf, it’s time to rethink this.
If this way of exercising suits your schedule and your interests, go for it.
However, science has shown that exercising for a short time within a 24-hour period and then spending the rest of the day sitting in front of a computer gains us no brownie points, and puts us at higher risk of poorer health, weight gain, slowed metabolism, dysregulation of blood sugar and blood pressure.
You get the picture.
It’s not good.
Also, the way we exercise today bears little resemblance to the amount and type of physical activity, a.k.a exercise, we used to do.
Our modern conveniences, cars, planes, mobile phones, Zoom and Team meetings, computers and laptops mean the way we work or organise our day has changed radically.
We sit. A lot.
While sitting per se is not a problem. It’s the length of time we spend on our derriere that matters.
Anything over 11 hours is associated with a 57% increased risk of dying compared to those who sit for 9 hours or less.
If you’re thinking, that’s a heck of a lot of sitting time, it is.
But how long are you sitting at work on an average day?
How to Introduce Exercise Snacking into Your Day.
As with any change to your routine, it’s important to consider,
- What’s going to work best with your schedule?
- What are you willing to commit to?
- How to decide what type of exercise snack will work best for you
- How you will create a framework to make it happen
Good intentions alone are not enough.
An exercise snack is typically a short burst of intense movement lasting between 30 seconds to 5-15 minutes.
The idea is to be up doing something that is moderate or vigorous in intensity.
So, it’s not simply getting up from your chair and walking to the kitchen to make another cup of coffee, though that’s a good start if you’re not moving from your chair much during the day.
Ideas for exercise snacks.
- Stair climbing is ideal. Look to build speed and power over time.
- Squats. Such an undervalued exercise. Doing a proper squat x 10 several times a day. Gradually building up to include doing them while holding weight is ideal.
- Do the flamingo. Stand on one leg while keeping your balance for half a minute. To ramp this up, hold your balance for longer and try it with your eyes closed!
- Push-ups. If starting from scratch, start low and go slow. Ladies, if your upper body strength isn’t great, start with your knees on the ground.
- Put the radio on and dance to your favourite song. (This is one of my favourites)
- Try some high knees up while standing.
- Practice standing from sitting without using your arms
- Stand while using your phone. Walking and talking is even better. If you’re sitting in front of the TV too much, try standing. It will help you decide whether you really want to watch the next Netflix episode or go and find something else to do instead.
- Transform all those boring household chores into helpful exercise snacks. Why not try a power lunge or do some stretches while folding the laundry? Though I’m still trying to find a way of making ironing less tedious.
The aim of these is simple.
The aim is to:
1. Increase your aerobic fitness
2. Get your blood moving and improve vascular health
3. Assist in blood sugar regulation and decrease the risk of developing insulin resistance
4. The increased muscle activity stimulates the release of myokines and promotes maintenance of muscle mass
5. Regular movement helps to keep your brain working well, you’re more motivated and thinking more clearly
6. Increase the release of endorphins to boost your mood.
If you’ve noticed that sitting too long makes you feel like rubbish, do yourself a favour and try an exercise snack.
Start with a snack a couple of times morning and afternoon, building up to doing something every hour for a minimum of one minute.
These brief moments of increased activity improve fitness, mood, cardiometabolic health and help protect you from cognitive decline.
Over time, your new exercise snacking habit will make you feel better and think more clearly.
Sometimes it’s the smallest of tweaks to our daily routine that can have the most profound effect.
Exercise is probably the most important of the six core pillars of lifestyle medicine.
Moving more is simple, inexpensive and potentially lifesaving.
Are you an exercise snacker?
I’d love to hear what you do.
