If you’ve got a full-time job, a family, or simply a lot going on, you may be wondering (rightly so!) how you’re supposed to fit in regular exercise around everything else you’ve got to manage in your life. This article will introduce an alternative way of thinking about movement, called movement snacks. Movement snacks go beyond the traditional idea of exercise, and can open up a world of possibilities for moving throughout your daily life.

Why Does Movement Matter?

Over the long term, sedentary lifestyles are associated with several adverse health outcomes, such as heart disease, back and neck pain, diabetes and high blood pressure. Regular movement is also essential to support joint health, circulation, bone strength and immunity.

If you’ve got a job that requires you to sit for long hours of the day (whether in an office or from your own home), working in movement throughout your day can go a long way to improving your overall health.

What is a Movement Snack?

A movement snack is simply doing a small amount of exercise whenever an opportunity presents itself. It changes the narrative from the traditional idea of exercising to make it more accessible, especially for people on busy schedules.

Interestingly, movement snacks offer additional benefits by getting you to move in different ways. Depending on what exercise you do currently, you may have experienced repeating similar styles of movements week after week in a fitness class. While that movement will still benefit you, you can gain even more by having more with movement variety.

Now, instead of thinking about how many times a week you should be exercising, you can change the question to: how many times a day can I move my body?

How Are Movement Snacks Different Than Exercise?

They aren’t different, really, but it’s all about terminology.

When you think of exercise, what comes to mind? Possibly words like sweat, work, exertion, sets, reps, miles… But what comes to mind when you think of movement? Perhaps it becomes more about an experience rather than a chore.

It’s common to have a relatively narrow definition of exercise – one-hour gym session, one-hour fitness class, a 5-km run, etc. While all of these activities absolutely count as exercise, it may not be realistic for everyone to fit them in on a regular basis.

So what if you redefined what exercise could look like? What if it was multiple commitments of just a few minutes at a time throughout the day rather than one large time commitment? This is where movement snacks allow you to be active throughout the day without carving out a chunk of dedicated fitness time.

Is There Evidence That Movement Snacks Actually Work?

This may come as a surprise, but yes! The health benefits of resistance training are well-defined, and we know it’s good for us. Yet, many people face barriers to incorporating more resistance training into their lives, such as time constraints, perceived difficulty and the need for equipment and facilities.

So, researchers have taken an interest in movement snacks as an alternative path toward health and wellness. In research, movement snacks are often called “minimal-dose resistance training.”

In one study, participants vigorously climbed three flights of stairs, three times per day, three times per week. Compared to the group that didn’t climb stairs, the stair-climbers improved their cardiovascular fitness, power output, exercise tolerance and functional performance. Not bad for a bit of stair climbing, no?

What Other Benefits Can You See From Movement Snacks?

For many people, exercise is associated with a specific period of time, in a specific place, with specific clothing and equipment. While this is one way to move your body, it gives you many conditions under which you need to move. Movement snacks provide a more exploratory option, where every movement provides an opportunity to learn about your body.

Moving frequently, no matter how small that movement may be, helps promote adaptability and efficiency. If you do these movements mindfully (i.e. paying attention), you’ll develop increased body awareness, which can translate across to so many aspects of your life.

You may also find movement snacks easier to stick to over the long term, as they tend to be associated with much less soreness and discomfort (two factors that often scare people off from resistance training, when they go too hard too fast).

How Can You Add Movement Snacks to Your Day?

No matter what you do throughout the day, the beauty of movement snacks is that you can add them to any routine. It can be helpful to start with some prompts to get you into the habit of moving more frequently.

Here are some ideas:

• Do ten squats or lunges while you wait for the kettle to boil.
• Sit in a deep squat while you brush your teeth.
• You use the kitchen counter to stretch out your shoulders (think palms on the counter and melt your chest towards the floor) while your coffee brews. 
• Set a repeating timer on your computer for 45 minutes. Every time the timer goes off, stand up and sit down several times, stretch your arms overhead and lean side-to-side or roll out your neck.
• Every time you choose stairs, elevator, or escalator, choose stairs and walk up them briskly.

Once you get the hang of it, you can try exploring movement in your day-to-day life in even more ways:

• Instead of simply walking on the sidewalk, balance on the curb.
• Balance on your tip-toes or do calf raises while you’re waiting in line-ups.
• Hang on tree branches when you pass under large trees. 
• If you have kids or a dog, get down on all fours with them and discover how to move around on the ground.
• As you cook dinner, feel how your foot touches the ground, then try balancing on one foot.
• Whenever you hear a good song, dance a little bit!

There are endless ways to move, and we all have an innate desire to move our bodies. There’s no right or wrong way to partake in a movement snack – explore how your body feels and have fun with it!

Takeaway

Regular exercise is essential for your health, but all of your exercise doesn’t have to happen in  a formal “exercise” setting. If you have established a regular exercise routine yet, then movement snacks are a great place to start gaining confidence. If you already have an established practice, then they’ll help you explore moving in different ways and enhance your overall health.