New Study: “Exercise Snacking” Shows Positive Effects on Blood Glucose

Are you one who struggles finding time to exercise for an extended period of time? Work schedules, family, friends and household chores can really put a damper on being able to get to the gym to perform lengthy workouts. Or maybe you’re the opposite and are tired of running numerous miles on the treadmill?

Researchers have been conducting experiments for some time now on the benefits of breaking up your long workouts into shorter workouts throughout the day and the impacts of these new types of workouts on your health, specifically on blood pressure. But little research has been done on the effects of this type of exercise on blood sugar levels. Until now!

Scientists in New Zealand recently reported results of a study on men and women with insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes. The participants were asked to exercise in the lab on three different occasions.

First, they exercised on a treadmill for 30 minutes and finished a half an hour before dinner. Their blood sugar level after dinner was measured.

On a second occasion, they broke their exercise down into three short bouts of exercise before each meal followed by blood sugar testing. These bouts of exercise where high intensity intervals in that participants walked as fast as they could on the treadmill for one minute, then took it down to a stroll for one minute and repeated this six times for a total of twelve minutes.

In the final and third exercise session, participants again engaged in high intensity intervals as above before each meal, but this time included one minute of resistance training with exercise bands in between the walking intervals. Total exercise time was twelve minutes.

The results were striking. All three exercise scenarios did yield improved blood sugar after the meal because contracting muscles draws sugar from the bloodstream during physical activity to support the efforts of exercise. Thus, those that exercised for 30 minutes before dinner did show an improvement in post dinner blood sugar levels. However, only the 2 interval workouts showed an improvement in blood sugar levels throughout the entire day, not just after dinner, and these positive effects lingered for the next 24 hours.

Experts have been calling this type of workout “exercise snacking”.

The goal is to exert yourself. Rank your workout on a scale of 1 to 10 during exercise, so that your workout should feel like a 9 out of 10. Go at this pace for one minute, then slow down for a minute and repeat several times. Complete several of these “exercise snacks” throughout the day.

I realize you may not always have a treadmill handy. But you don’t necessarily need a treadmill. You can walk outdoors, jog or use the stairs in your home to get the same effects. You will probably also enjoy your workouts much more than the boring 30-45 minute run on a treadmill.

Your Turn to Take Action: Please share in the comments below how you incorporated “exercise snacking” into your day and if you enjoyed it.