Many people say they don’t have enough time or motivation to exercise, but new research suggests there may be a simple solution: exercise “snacks.”
These are short bursts of activity—no longer than five minutes—that you can do several times a day.
A new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that this time-efficient approach can help improve fitness, especially for people who are usually inactive.
Around the world, about one in three adults and 80% of teenagers don’t meet the recommended levels of weekly exercise.
Health experts say adults should aim for 300 minutes of moderate activity, or 75–150 minutes of vigorous exercise each week.
For many, this goal feels out of reach. Long working hours, family responsibilities, and lack of motivation are common reasons people skip workouts.
That’s where exercise snacks come in. Instead of finding an hour to go to the gym, people can slip in small but powerful movements throughout the day.
Climbing stairs, lifting light weights, or doing quick bodyweight exercises are examples. For older adults, tai chi and simple leg-strength movements are often used.
To find out how effective this method is, researchers looked at 11 clinical trials from Australia, Canada, China, and the UK.
These trials included 414 adults who were mostly sedentary. Nearly 70% of them were women.
The programs lasted between four and 12 weeks, with participants doing two or more short bursts of activity a day, at least three times a week.
The results were promising. People who took part in exercise snacking showed noticeable improvements in their cardiorespiratory fitness—that’s the body’s ability to supply oxygen to muscles during activity.
This is an important measure of overall health and is linked to lower risk of heart disease and early death.
However, the benefits for muscle strength and endurance were less clear, especially among older adults.
Interestingly, exercise snacking did not significantly change body weight, blood pressure, or cholesterol levels. But the key finding was how easy people found it to stick with the program. Compliance was very high—91% of people completed their sessions, and 83% were able to keep up the routine.
This shows that exercise snacks could be a practical and realistic way for people to be more active in daily life.
The researchers admit the evidence is still limited. The studies were small, and the methods varied a lot. Still, they believe the approach has strong potential. Short, flexible workouts are easier to fit into busy lives, and that may be the real key to making exercise a lasting habit.
“Exercise snacks may help overcome common barriers like lack of time and low motivation,” the researchers concluded. “These small bursts can make regular activity more manageable and sustainable.”
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