* Excercise Snacking*
January 21, 2019
An exercise “snack” is something you do for a few minutes a day.
Ideal for those who cannot manage full sessions at one go.
Several bouts of exercises “snacks” can add up and have the same benefits as a fully fledged session.
Even if you climb, say, 2 stairs a day, called “stair snacking” (which may not seem that effective) but once you accumulate the two stairs in a year they can add up to around 700 stairs a year.
In my case I divide my 14,000 steps a day ( including weekends) into 5 sessions throughout the day. So even if I miss out a stretch (or two) I have other bouts to back me up.
Climbing stairs for just a few minutes at short intervals throughout the day can significantly improve heart health, a study has found. The research, published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, suggests that virtually anyone can improve their fitness, anywhere, any time.
“The findings make it even easier for people to incorporate 'exercise snacks' into their day," said Martin Gibala, a professor at McMaster University in Canada.
Previous studies had shown that brief bouts of vigorous exercise, or sprint interval training (SIT), are effective when performed as a single session, with a few minutes of recovery between the intense bursts, requiring a total time commitment of 10 minutes or so.
For the study, researchers set out to determine if SIT exercise snacks or vigorous bouts of stair climbing performed as single sprints spread throughout the day would be sufficient enough to improve cardio respiratory fitness (CRF), an important healthy marker that is linked to longevity and cardiovascular disease risk.
"We know that sprint interval training works, but we were a bit surprised to see that the stair snacking approach was also effective," said Jonathan Little, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
"Vigorously climbing a few flights of stairs on your coffee or bathroom break during the day seems to be enough to boost fitness in people who are otherwise sedentary," Little said.
In addition to being more fit, the stair climbers were also stronger compared to their sedentary counterparts at the end of the study and generated more power during a maximal cycling test.
Dr. Sanjay Bhagde
bhagde@gmail.com
Jamnagar ( Gujarat, India)
ટિપ્પણીઓ નથી:
ટિપ્પણી પોસ્ટ કરો