Movement snacks (& sips) to to make changes for life
Unlike advice about only eating 3 healthy meals a day and avoiding snacking, movement is beneficial to us at any (& every!) time of the day. Obviously 3 larger ‘meals’ of movement would be hugely beneficial, but it’s rare to be able to carve out that time in your day.
If the reality is prolonged periods of inactivity, it’s really beneficial to ‘snack’ (or sip) on movement throughout the day to help break up these often necessary periods of sitting.
We’re all fully on board with the link between exercise and better health now, which is a massive shift in the right direction. Despite this, in recent decades the rate of sedentarism has increased.
We can all debate why...like the rise in technologies that make everything more convenient or easy (e.g. escalators, home deliveries, screens that do everything!). Sadly, the knock-on effect is decreasing overall daily movement in children and adults in both work/school and leisure time.
Remember in the old days when there was ‘nothing on tv’ you’d get up and go and do something? It’s now possible to find something to watch or scroll through for as long as we want at any time of day or night, and with the next clip or episode automatically loading up, we have to forcibly remove ourselves, which is not easy.
The cards are stacked against us!
But I do my exercise quota, isn’t that enough?
Exercising is clearly great for your body, especially if you are doing a type of exercise that makes you feel good. I love doing natural movement training sessions, lifting weights, going for long walks, kayaking, paddle-boarding or cold water swimming depending on the time of year. I’ve found things I enjoy doing, but I can’t always fit them in as regularly as I’d like and they usually take some planning.
When it’s harder to fit in bigger chunks of exercise, we need not reprimand ourselves that we’re not exercising all the time. Instead, the way I ensure I increase my daily movement quota is by snacking on ‘mini movement breaks’ throughout the day. When I do, I really notice how much better I feel all day. Through natural movement training, I’ve learned the importance of using a much wider variety of ‘shapes’ for my overall mobility and balance which then translates to greater confidence in other movements when exercising and just generally being capable of the things I choose to do in life, rather than feeling held back by my own body’s capability.
I’m also aware that I feel better mentally, both in terms of mood and productivity as moving boots blood flow to both body and more importantly brain. When I sit for too long, I feel sluggish, lethargic and irritable and if I do that too often my productivity certainly decreases, I’m less able to cope with stress and it just becomes harder to pull myself out of that rut!
“If you sit at work all day, if you sit at home a lot, then you should be really mindful of trying to take a break from your sitting habits as often as possible – at least every 30 minutes,” said Keith Diaz, co-author of the study from Columbia University Medical Center. “Even if you exercise, you still should be mindful of taking breaks and be moving throughout the day, because exercise is not enough to overcome the risks of sitting, and sitting in long bouts.”
Excerpt from a great article in The Guardian
Moving every half hour could help limit effects of sedentary lifestyle, says study
Snack on movement for better health outcomes
You’ve heard me say it before, but you wouldn’t drink all your 2 litres of water once a day, instead, we sip at drinks throughout the day. This way we’re constantly topping up our hydration, rather than waiting until we’re thirsty - which is a signal that the body is dehydrated.
We respond to our thirst, but we often don’t tune in to our body’s signals for needing movement as these can be harder to detect. If we feel fidgety, unproductive or irritable, instead of wondering what’s wrong with us or grabbing some caffeine, try a ‘movement snack’ for 5 minutes and see if that solves the problem.
When we feel like the business of life makes us feel we’re not moving enough, knowing we can add in short 5 minute movement breaks can feel very empowering and like the cards are now stacked in our favour. Prioritising movement of any kind and applauding ourselves for the fact we’ve added in movement will help us to want to move more and actually start seeking out opportunities as well as tuning in more to how we generally feel as a result.
ALL movement is good movement
Reframing how much you move away from the number of times you exercised that week or total minutes, to how often you literally moved around is a big, but essential shift we all need to make. Seeing all physical ‘activity’, from household chores to going up and down stairs, to fun games with your kids/grandkids as healthy and important movements, will make you see how easy it is to spread movement throughout the day and add up to you being more and more active, reaping the long-term rewards.
Ideas for adding in more movement throughout your day
In the office
Sip water throughout the day so that you have to get up to fill your water bottle (as well as go for more comfort breaks as a result!). Add in short movement breaks by going up and down stairs (2 at a time?) or doing a few single leg balancing movements whilst the office kettle boils. Arrange walk and talk meetings and be the one that stands to move and stretch to encourage others around you to do the same. If you do sit on a chair - sit in different ways on your chair so you alter position regularly.
Home
Sprinkle household tasks throughout the day at intervals (set a half hour timer on your laptop or on an egg timer or phone or watch). Walk and talk when you need to make phone calls by batching them (even if it’s just lapping the house a few times, or better still the garden). Get down to the ground to do jobs and move around on or at ground level.
Follow my 5 minute coffee break movement videos in the Reclaim Movement membership to mix up the types of movement you do each time. Making different shapes with our bodies, mixing up our movement patterns and testing our ability to do a wide range of natural movement skills will work regularly on our mobility, strength, balance and stability.
With (or also without) kids
Have a balloon handy at all times for ‘keepy-uppys’, play ‘Twister’ with a mat or with an imaginary one! When out walking, balance on fallen logs, climb trees or walk along pavement edges. Make time for a regular kitchen disco to your favourite feel good tunes (enjoy making teenagers squirm!) or use a brush handle between chairs for some limbo practise.
Sometimes it’s hard to think of ideas for a variety of healthy movements. There are over 60, 5 and 10 minute movement break videos to follow for inspiration in the Reclaim Movement membership. For all the details click here.
For festive inspiration follow me on Instagram for 3 weeks of ‘Mini Movements for Advent’ that will be joined together for some great movement breaks! Have a happy movement advent!
