Incorporating just two minutes of exercise “snacks” into your daily routine can make you fitter, researchers say.
Bursts of activity can improve health, reduce the risk of depression, and support those with a lack of time or motivation to boost their fitness levels.
Engaging in as little as 10 to 59 minutes of activity per week has been associated with an 18 per cent reduced risk of premature death from any cause.
Most adults do not achieve the recommended 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity per week, such as brisk walking or jogging, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity a week.
Now, researchers writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, say there is collective evidence that exercise spread throughout the day has health benefits.
The research team, including experts from the University of Oviedo in Spain and the Danish Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Science, said: “Exercise snacks are intentionally structured, short-duration bouts of physical activity, such as stair climbing or body weight exercises, that are deliberately incorporated into daily routines.
“Snacktivity encourages the accumulation of short physical activity bouts (two to five minutes) to achieve recommended weekly activity targets,” they added.
The researchers assessed 11 randomised controlled trials involving 414 inactive people, 69 per cent of whom were women.
Exercise “snacks” were defined as structured bouts lasting less than five minutes, performed at least twice daily and for at least three days every week.
Pooling the results showed that exercise snacks significantly improved cardiorespiratory fitness in adults, and there was limited evidence they improved muscular endurance in older adults.
Less likely to give up exercise ‘snacks’
While the snacks were not shown to alter body composition, blood pressure or cholesterol levels, they were still regarded as beneficial.
The team said people were also very likely to stick with short bursts of activity rather than starting longer training sessions and later giving up.
“Achieving even half of the recommended weekly physical activity volume confers significant mental health benefits, including an 18 per cent lower risk of depression,” the researchers added.
“These findings highlight the potential of low-volume, accessible physical activity strategies to produce significant health benefits, particularly among physically inactive adults.”
The researchers said the “time efficient nature of exercise snacks” may help people who think they are too busy to exercise.
“Exercise snacks may enhance adherence to regular physical activity by providing short, flexible exercise bouts that are easier to integrate into daily routines,” they said.
Examples of moderate activity include brisk walking of 4mph or faster, cleaning such as washing windows or mopping, cycling at 10mph-12mph, or badminton.
Vigorous activity includes hiking, jogging at 6mph or faster, shovelling, fast cycling, basketball or tennis.