From school initiatives like Skip2Bfit to public health campaigns like Change4Life, the importance of exercise has been instilled in us from a young age. Yet social media’s pervasive fitness culture makes it easy to believe that only high-intensity, strenuous forms of exercise can truly be beneficial. It comes as no surprise, then, that with the arrival of the new year many of us set ambitious fitness goals, only to realise that they are simply not sustainable in the long run.
In fact, research shows that only nine percent of us are successful in keeping our New Year’s resolutions. So how can we rethink the way we approach exercise to make it work in the long run?
The answer to this question might lie in a concept known as “exercise snacking” – breaking activity into short, manageable bursts throughout the day. These “snacks”, such as doing 20 squats while the kettle boils or taking a brisk walk to break up studying, can be far easier to integrate into daily life than a rigid gym timetable, while still offering health benefits.
Just ten minutes of exercise a day could help us live longer, and according to psychiatrist Dr Anders Hansen, these frequent forms of movement could boost creativity, concentration, and memory, as well as ward off depression.
Even those who participate in team sports or regularly go to the gym could still end up being “active couch potatoes”, as described by researcher Jo Blodgett, and would benefit from simply making a conscious effort to move more.
Shifting your mindset to find intrinsic motivation for fitness, such as moving to feel energised or to reduce stress, could be the key to making it stick, according to British endurance athlete Ross Edgley. Whether you’re an avid gym-goer or not, it seems everyone can benefit mentally and physically from “snacking” and building more movement into their day wherever possible.
