Quick Workouts for Health, Fitness, and Longer Life
It's no secret that exercise is a must if you want to stay or get healthy. The benefits of exercise are important in so many areas:
It helps reduce fatigue.
Exercise boosts mood.
It improves immunity.
Moving helps detoxify the body, both in the movement of lymph and by promoting sweating.
Strength training improves muscle strength, which boosts bone density.
Aerobic exercise improves cardiovascular health.
The extra energy spent keeps our weight stable.
Increasing blood circulation to the brain helps with cognitive health.
For cancer patients, exercise can also help prevent metastasis, the dread of anyone undergoing cancer treatment.
For some people, the answer is the gym. But others either cannot afford gym fees, are short on time, or are unwell and unable to manage a long workout.
The advice to date has been that we need to do 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week or 75 minutes a week of high-intensity exercise. And it's certainly the best way to get aerobic exercise, but the latest research suggests it isn't the complete answer to good health and longevity.
Why are quick workouts valuable?
These days, many of us lead sedentary lives. You might work in an office, where you spend most of your time sitting. Or perhaps you are unwell or immobile, and you spend most of your time in an easy chair with your feet up. Or you might do a lot of long-haul flights. In these scenarios, blood pools in your legs and feet instead of being regularly pumped around the body, and lymph is stagnant too.
Sitting is like the new smoking, people say, because it's so bad for us. It increases insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, weight gain and obesity, and raises the risk of heart disease. For cancer patients, particularly, higher circulating glucose is a real problem, because it increases the likelihood of tumours growing. And going for a 30-minute walk once a day, or even making a trip to the gym, won't counteract those effects.
What if I told you that moving for just one minute every 45 minutes to an hour would prolong your life and keep you healthier than that single walk or gym trip, with no equipment or time away from your desk? Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Well, that is what several recent studies found.
In each of the studies, the researchers provided the participants with a set diet and then allocated them to one of several groups in turn. The first group sat all day with no exercise. The 2nd sat all day aside from a 30-minute walk. The 3rd sat all day except for 3 minutes of light-intensity walking every 30 minutes. The 4th sat all day but took a minute every 45 minutes to an hour to do repeated stand-ups (1, 2, 3).
In each case, the participants who did the quick, regular exercises had lower insulin and triglyceride levels after their meals. In one study (3), they compared the effects of 15 stand-ups and a 2-minute walk every 30 minutes. The stand-up group had better responses than the walking group.
Conclusion
Going for a 30-minute walk or making a trip to the gym is a great way to improve cardiovascular health, because it is aerobic exercise. But short, regular exercise is more valuable if the aim is to prolong your life.
These exercises don't have to be repeated stand-ups. You could do sumo squats (my favourite, as it loosens up the tight hip muscles), marching on the spot, or lunges. Anything that gets the leg muscles moving carries both the blood and lymph around effectively, because they are the largest muscle group in the body.
They are also really easy to do. If you're in an office, you could recruit some of your fellow workers to join you. That way, you wouldn't feel so odd doing the exercises, and it would benefit them too. If you're at home, similarly they aren't too arduous and could be done, even if you aren't well.
As a side benefit, any of these options will tone the muscles in your legs and bottom, and improve your balance.
There are apps for your desktop, and both Apple and Android devices that you can use to set a timer to remind you to get up and move. Do it now, and help prolong your life.
I have an entire chapter on exercise and its benefits in my book, along with many suggestions for a healthy diet, reducing stress, helping with sleep, reducing toxins, and herbs and supplements that can help you if you're a cancer patient, either undergoing treatment or afterwards to cope with side effects and help prevent it coming back. You can find all the online stores that stock it by clicking on the button below.
References
Gao Y, Li Q, Finni T, Pesola AJ. Enhanced muscle activity during interrupted sitting improves glycemic control in overweight and obese men. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2024;34(4):e14628. doi:10.1111/sms.14628
Wheeler MJ, Green DJ, Cerin E, et al. Combined effects of continuous exercise and intermittent active interruptions to prolonged sitting on postprandial glucose, insulin, and triglycerides in adults with obesity: A randomized crossover trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2020;17:152. doi:10.1186/s12966-020-01057-9
Gillen JB, Estafanos S, Williamson E, et al. Interrupting prolonged sitting with repeated chair stands or short walks reduces postprandial insulinemia in healthy adults. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2021;130(1):104-113. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00796.2020
