What are exercise snacks?

Yes, most people think of snacks in terms of energy consumption, but have you ever considered an exercise exertion snack?

If you have heard about blue zones, you know that these areas are pockets of the world where the longevity of the community is significantly longer and healthier than the rest.  The term exercise snack was coined after observing the fact that most people in blue zones don’t do structured or specific exercise workouts, they simply naturally move every 20 minutes or so. Now in blue zones where everything is not automated, the bout of exercise might be scrubbing clothes, or climbing up a hill to get to the store, manually grinding corn to make tortillas.  That being said, there are ways for us to get snacking worked into our daily routine. 

Exercise snacks are short bouts (3-6) of exercise performed at a high intensity followed by a 1 minute rest period  for your current fitness level.  It could be stair climbing in your building, where you climb stairs for 1 minute, then rest for 1 minute and repeat up to 6 times.  If you don’t have stairs it could be as simple as sitting and rising from your chair for 1 minute intervals.  

I inadvertently started doing exercise snacks this summer.  On particularly busy days where I know that I’m not going to have time to get a structured 30-45  min workout in, I commit to doing 100 walking lunges in a 10 minute gap that I have in my day.  

So what are some of the reasons why exercise snacks seem to be so beneficial? 

• In a large study published in the British Journal of Sports medicine looking at 44,000 people from four different countries, exercising for 30-40 minutes per day showed a reduced risk of early death.  Benefits could even be seen at just 11 minutes a day for those who were normally sedentary. 

• Another study published in 2014 showed that exercise snacks before meals helps to improve glycemic control.  The study went on to show that an exercise snack was better than a long bout of exercise especially in those who already have insulin resistance. 

• Using exercise snacks to break up long periods of sedentary activities, can keep the gene responsible for breaking down fats in your body active.  This in turn keeps your metabolism going at a higher rate. 

Check back next week, we’ll have some follow along videos of exercise snacks for you.