Fitting in your daily snacks

Exercise snacking isn’t new, although the research and the term are. If you’ve ever been sitting at your computer or watching TV and had the urge to stand up and walk around or stretch, you’ve had an exercise snack. This type of body and brain break is famous among many writers. Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, spends a minute every hour when writing doing push-ups and sit-ups. And why not? Short bursts of exercise can give you an energy boost and improve your productivity. What makes the exercise snack different from standing up and stretching or walking to the kitchen, is increasing your heart and breathing rates. But you don’t need to worry about sweating. Moving about for one to two minutes isn’t enough time for you to start. This is makes it easy to do in everyday clothes. Some activities you can do include stair climbing, jogging in place, jumping jacks and burpees. You can even do a brisk walk or jog around the block. If you have a stationary bike or rowing machine, just jump on that for a minute or so. If you want something of longer duration, there’s the Royal Canadian Air Force 11-minute workout plan. Developed in 1959, you can do this program at home without any equipment (although keeping your knees bent during sit-ups is advisable). Researchers recently studied a modified version of this program, and found it effective at improving fitness. It’s still ideal to get in your regular meal of exercise as well as your snacks. But exercise snacks are a great way to build activity into your day. If you think you’ll have a hard time remembering to get up every so often, technology can help. From a simple cooking timer, to the alarm on your phone, to watches that vibrate reminding you to get up. But perhaps the most effective may be using a screen time app on your computer, tablet or phone. Some of these apps lock out your device for a set period of time, giving you the impetus to get up and move.