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Jones MD, Clifford BK, Stamatakis E, Gibbs MT. Exercise Snacks and Other Forms of Intermittent Physical Activity for Improving Health in Adults and Older Adults: A Scoping Review of Epidemiological, Experimental and Qualitative Studies. Sports Med 2024; 54:813-835. [PMID: 38190022 DOI: 10.1007/s40279-023-01983-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Exercise snacks, including other variants of brief intermittent bouts, are an emerging approach for increasing physical activity, although their operationalisation is unstandardised and their health benefits remain unclear. This scoping review aimed to explore characterisations of exercise snacks and summarise their effects on health in adults and older adults. Clinical trial registers (clinicaltrials.gov and ANZCTR) and electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, CENTRAL, PsycINFO) were searched from inception to 1 June 2023, for ongoing and published studies of exercise snacks. Backwards and forwards citation tracking was also conducted to identify additional eligible studies. Studies were included if they investigated exercise snacks-brief intermittent bouts of physical activity spread across the day-in adults or older adults. We included epidemiological, experimental, quasi-experimental and qualitative studies that examined the effect of exercise snacks on any health outcomes or described barriers to and enablers of these approaches. Thirty-two studies were included (7 trial registers, 1 published protocol, 3 epidemiological studies and 20 trials reported across 21 studies). Three main terms were used to describe exercise snacks: exercise snack(ing), snacktivity and vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA). Participants were predominantly physically inactive but otherwise healthy adults or older adults. Exercise snacks were feasible and appeared safe. Epidemiological studies showed steep, near-linear associations of VILPA with reduced all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality as well as reduced incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events and cancer. The limited trial evidence showed exercise snacks had modest effects on improving cardiorespiratory fitness, whereas effects on physical function, mood, quality of life and other health outcomes were equivocal. In conclusion, exercise snacks appear feasible and safe for adults and older adults and may have promising health benefits, but this is mostly based on findings from a limited number of small quasi-experimental studies, small randomised trials or qualitative studies. More studies are needed in individuals with chronic disease. This emerging physical activity approach may have appeal for individuals who find structured exercise unfeasible.Registration https://osf.io/qhu24/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew D Jones
- School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
- Centre for Pain IMPACT, Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia.
| | - Briana K Clifford
- School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Emmanuel Stamatakis
- Mackenzie Wearables Research Hub, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Mitchell T Gibbs
- School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Centre for Pain IMPACT, Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia
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Blodgett JM, Ahmadi MN, Atkin AJ, Chastin S, Chan HW, Suorsa K, Bakker EA, Hettiarcachchi P, Johansson PJ, Sherar LB, Rangul V, Pulsford RM, Mishra G, Eijsvogels TMH, Stenholm S, Hughes AD, Teixeira-Pinto AM, Ekelund U, Lee IM, Holtermann A, Koster A, Stamatakis E, Hamer M. Device-measured physical activity and cardiometabolic health: the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting, and Sleep (ProPASS) consortium. Eur Heart J 2024; 45:458-471. [PMID: 37950859 PMCID: PMC10849343 DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 09/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/13/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour (SB), and inadequate sleep are key behavioural risk factors of cardiometabolic diseases. Each behaviour is mainly considered in isolation, despite clear behavioural and biological interdependencies. The aim of this study was to investigate associations of five-part movement compositions with adiposity and cardiometabolic biomarkers. METHODS Cross-sectional data from six studies (n = 15 253 participants; five countries) from the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep consortium were analysed. Device-measured time spent in sleep, SB, standing, light-intensity physical activity (LIPA), and moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) made up the composition. Outcomes included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, HDL cholesterol, total:HDL cholesterol ratio, triglycerides, and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). Compositional linear regression examined associations between compositions and outcomes, including modelling time reallocation between behaviours. RESULTS The average daily composition of the sample (age: 53.7 ± 9.7 years; 54.7% female) was 7.7 h sleeping, 10.4 h sedentary, 3.1 h standing, 1.5 h LIPA, and 1.3 h MVPA. A greater MVPA proportion and smaller SB proportion were associated with better outcomes. Reallocating time from SB, standing, LIPA, or sleep into MVPA resulted in better scores across all outcomes. For example, replacing 30 min of SB, sleep, standing, or LIPA with MVPA was associated with -0.63 (95% confidence interval -0.48, -0.79), -0.43 (-0.25, -0.59), -0.40 (-0.25, -0.56), and -0.15 (0.05, -0.34) kg/m2 lower BMI, respectively. Greater relative standing time was beneficial, whereas sleep had a detrimental association when replacing LIPA/MVPA and positive association when replacing SB. The minimal displacement of any behaviour into MVPA for improved cardiometabolic health ranged from 3.8 (HbA1c) to 12.7 (triglycerides) min/day. CONCLUSIONS Compositional data analyses revealed a distinct hierarchy of behaviours. Moderate-vigorous physical activity demonstrated the strongest, most time-efficient protective associations with cardiometabolic outcomes. Theoretical benefits from reallocating SB into sleep, standing, or LIPA required substantial changes in daily activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna M Blodgett
- Institute of Sport Exercise and Health, Division of Surgery and Interventional Sciences, University College London, London , UK
| | - Matthew N Ahmadi
- Mackenzie Wearables Research Hub, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Andrew J Atkin
- School of Health Sciences and Norwich Epidemiology Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
| | - Sebastien Chastin
- School of Health and Life Science Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
- Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Hsiu-Wen Chan
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Kristin Suorsa
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
- Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
| | - Esmee A Bakker
- Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- Department of Medical BioSciences, Exercise Physiology ResearchGroup, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Pasan Hettiarcachchi
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden
| | - Peter J Johansson
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Lauren B Sherar
- School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, UK
| | - Vegar Rangul
- HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
| | | | - Gita Mishra
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Thijs M H Eijsvogels
- Department of Medical BioSciences, Exercise Physiology ResearchGroup, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Sari Stenholm
- School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Department of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
- Research Services, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Finland
| | - Alun D Hughes
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science, UCL, UK
- UCL BHF Research Accelerator, University College London, London, UK
- University College London Hospitals NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, London, UK
| | | | - Ulf Ekelund
- Department of Sport Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
- Departmentof Chronic Diseases, Norwegian Public Health Institute, Oslo, Norway
| | - I-Min Lee
- Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Andreas Holtermann
- National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Annemarie Koster
- Department of Social Medicine, CAPHRI Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Emmanuel Stamatakis
- Mackenzie Wearables Research Hub, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Mark Hamer
- Institute of Sport Exercise and Health, Division of Surgery and Interventional Sciences, University College London, London , UK
- University College London Hospitals NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, London, UK
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