What is exercise to you? Ask most people and you’ll get the common types of answers you’d normally associate with exercise: Running, cycling, swimming, weight lifting, crossfit, yoga, or just about any other dedicated form of moving your body and elevating your heart rate. But what if you didn’t need to engage in any of these activities in order to exercise? Sounds impossible? According to a paper published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it’s not.
Labelled high-intensity incidental physical activity, the paper suggests that everyday activities like taking the stairs, sprinting for the bus, walking uphill, or carrying heavy grocery bags home, is enough physical activity to produce health benefits, even if it’s only done in 30 second bursts throughout the day. Considered to be a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), these day to day activities can add up to big benefits down the road.
Now let’s be honest here, taking the stairs a few times a day isn’t going to work off that double bacon cheeseburger you had for lunch, the decadent chocolate cake that followed your dinner, or even that can of Coke you had as a pick-me-up on your work break. What it will do, however, is contribute to overall good health for people who already make sensible lifestyle choices, and emphasize the importance of leading an active life.
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