Exercise ‘snacks’ can have a life-changing impact — and you only need 20 seconds

Everyone loves a snack, but this one could come with some health benefits.

It turns out daily so-called “exercise snacks” — about a minute or two of physical activity — can make a difference in your health.

Adding exercise into your regular routine can be difficult, especially when it’s not already part of your day that’s filled with work, family, friends and other obligations.

But integrating 20-second exercise bursts into your daily schedule is an easy place to start or a simple add-on to your current routine — so you can stop feeling guilty if you happen to miss a day at the gym.

“Consistency is key. When we are doing any form of exercise, it doesn’t necessarily become beneficial if we’re doing it inconsistently,” Katie Lawton, an exercise physiologist with the Cleveland Clinic, said in a news release.

“When we do things consistently over a period of a year, that’s when we tend to see more benefits.”

Examples of exercise snacking include climbing stairs, jumping jacks, air squats, lunges, push-ups, jogging in place, vigorously walking down the hallway, holding a wall sit or holding a plank.

Lawton explained that adding short bursts of high-intensity physical activity into your daily routine can be beneficial to everyone — whether you’re already in shape or unfortunately out of shape.

Exercise snacks can be done at any time, anywhere, and don’t require a gym membership or any equipment, making it easy for people who work from home or have a hybrid schedule to get some physical activity in.

Where a person starts and how they decide to move for a “snack” is dependent on the individual and their current fitness baseline.

“Movement is good for us, even if it’s not a dedicated exercise session,” Meghan Wieser, a doctor of physical therapy at Maryland-based Recharge Health & Fitness, told Fortune Well. “Movement snacks can be a low-barrier way to get your body moving throughout the day, and it correlates with better health markers.”

While exercise snacking shouldn’t completely replace a regular workout routine, it can still improve your health and is a reasonable and accessible first step.

Lawton advised planning a time to be active — no matter if it’s just a snack or a full workout — and emphasized that you’re most likely to see an impact if done regularly.

“It’s hard for some people to just stop what they’re doing to go exercise,” she said. “You should try making exercise part of your schedule.”

Wieser suggested implementing exercise snacks through “habit stacking,” adding that the idea is to be intentional about physical movement.

“In a given day, you already have habits built in, like a midmorning coffee break,” she explained. “So while you’re waiting for the coffee to brew, fit in some movement.”

Lawton added that, as always, it’s important to warm up before doing vigorous physical activity of any kind.

The Cleveland Clinic wrote that more research is needed to determine the overall health benefits of exercise snacks — but it’s still an easy way to remember to get up and move throughout the day.

These recommendations don’t come without backup from research, of course.

A 2019 study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism found that 20-second bursts of vigorous stair climbing three times per day, three days per week, improved cardiorespiratory fitness by about 5%.

“The changes are modest, but not insignificant,” study co-author Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology, said. “By studying epidemiological data, we’ve learned that small changes can go a long way.