Exercise Snacking and Cardiometabolic Health

Official title

Influence of Exercise Snacking on Cardiometabolic Health, Physical Activity, and Psychological Well-Being

Overview

Regular physical activity is associated with numerous health benefits, yet many young adults do not achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Exercise snacking, which involves performing brief bouts of physical activity throughout the day, may provide a practical alternative to traditional exercise programs by making physical activity easier to incorporate into daily routines. This randomized controlled trial will evaluate whether a 12-week exercise snacking intervention improves physical activity levels, aerobic fitness, cardiometabolic health, and psychological well-being in insufficiently active young adults. Participants will be randomly assigned to either an exercise snacking intervention or a usual behavior control group. Assessments will be completed at baseline, after the 12-week intervention, and after an additional 12-week follow-up period to determine whether any changes are maintained after the intervention ends. The study will measure physical activity using wearable activity monitors and assess aerobic fitness, body composition, blood pressure, blood lipids, glucose, exercise motivation, affective responses to exercise, and mental well-being. The findings will help determine whether exercise snacking is an effective and sustainable strategy for improving health in young adults and may inform future physical activity recommendations and interventions

Detailed description

Regular physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other chronic health conditions. Despite these well-established benefits, many young adults do not achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Commonly reported barriers include limited time, competing academic or work demands, and difficulty maintaining structured exercise programs.

Exercise snacking, defined as accumulating multiple brief bouts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the day, has emerged as a potential strategy for increasing physical activity while minimizing many of the barriers associated with traditional exercise programs. Although short bouts of physical activity have demonstrated favorable acute physiological effects, relatively few randomized controlled trials have evaluated whether exercise snacking produces sustained improvements in objectively measured physical activity, physical fitness, cardiometabolic health, and psychological outcomes in free-living young adults.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a 12-week exercise snacking intervention improves physical activity behavior, aerobic fitness, cardiometabolic health, exercise motivation, affective responses to physical activity, and psychological well-being compared with a usual behavior control group. Participants will be randomly assigned to either an exercise snacking intervention or a control condition. Following completion of the intervention, participants will be observed for an additional 12 weeks to evaluate the maintenance of behavioral and physiological changes after structured support is withdrawn.

The primary objectives are to determine whether exercise snacking increases objectively measured physical activity and improves aerobic fitness. Secondary objectives are to evaluate changes in body composition, blood pressure, fasting cardiometabolic biomarkers, exercise motivation, affective responses to exercise, and psychological well-being. Exploratory analyses will examine whether changes in motivation and affective responses are associated with long-term maintenance of physical activity during the follow-up period.

This study will contribute to the growing evidence regarding practical, scalable approaches for increasing physical activity among young adults and may help inform future lifestyle interventions and public health recommendations aimed at promoting long-term engagement in regular physical activity

Interventions

• Behavioral Exercise Snacking
  Participants assigned to the intervention group will complete multiple brief bouts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout each day for 12 weeks. Each exercise snack will typically last approximately 1-3 minutes and may include activities such as stair climbing, brisk walking, repeated sit-to-stands, body-weight squats, or other moderate-to-vigorous activities that can be incorporated into daily routines. Participants will receive standardized written instructions, examples of exerc

Primary outcome measures

• Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, and Week 24]

Secondary outcome measures (9)

• Body Fat Percentage [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24]
• Aerobic Fitness [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, and Week 24]
• Fasting Blood Glucose [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24]
• Blood Lipid Profile [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24]
• Exercise Motivation [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24]
• Psychological Well-Being [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24]
• Depressive Symptoms [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24]
• Anxiety Symptoms [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24]
• Perceived Stress [Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18-60 years.
• Body mass index (BMI) ≥18.5 kg/m².
• Insufficiently physically active, defined as generally not meeting current physical activity guidelines for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
• Able to safely participate in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity as determined by study screening procedures, including completion of the Physical - Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q+) and health history review.
• Willing and able to provide written informed consent.
• Willing to complete all study visits, wear activity monitors, and comply with study procedures.

Exclusion criteria

• Known cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic, neurological, orthopedic, or other medical conditions that would make participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity unsafe.
• Resting heart rate >100 beats/minute at screening.
• Resting blood pressure >160/100 mmHg at screening.
• Clinically significant electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities identified during screening that require medical evaluation.
• Current participation in regular structured physical activity that meets or exceeds recommended physical activity guidelines.
• Physical limitations or injuries that preclude safe participation in the intervention or fitness testing.
• Moderate-to-severe psychological distress or other mental health concerns identified during screening that require referral or would make study participation inappropriate.
• Pregnancy or any other condition judged by the investigators to make participation unsafe or interfere with completion of study procedures.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Basic science

Study locations

United States · 1 center

• University of Wisconsin-River Falls — River Falls

Publications

• Wan KW, Dai ZH, Wong PS, Huang WY, Lei EF, Little JP, Lin FC, Tam BT. Effects of Exercise Snacks on Cardiometabolic Health and Body Composition in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2025 Aug;35(8):e70114. doi: 10.1111/sms.70114. PMID 40814152
• Wang T, Laher I, Li S. Exercise snacks and physical fitness in sedentary populations. Sports Med Health Sci. 2024 Feb 27;7(1):1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.smhs.2024.02.006. eCollection 2025 Jan. PMID 39649791
• Yin M, Deng S, Chen Z, Zhang B, Zheng H, Bai M, Li H, Zhang X, Deng J, Liu Q, Little JP, Li Y. Exercise snacks are a time-efficient alternative to moderate-intensity continuous training for improving cardiorespiratory fitness but not maximal fat oxidation in inactive adults: a randomized controlled trial. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2024 Jul 1;49(7):920-932. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2023-0593. Epub 2024 Apr PMID 38569204
• Jenkins EM, Nairn LN, Skelly LE, Little JP, Gibala MJ. Do stair climbing exercise "snacks" improve cardiorespiratory fitness? Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2019 Jun;44(6):681-684. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2018-0675. Epub 2019 Jan 16. PMID 30649897

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07718113 · 2026-33

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗