Snacksercise Little-bite workouts go a long way

In the third part of his 4 Pillar Plan, Dr Rangan Chatterjee says regular activity bursts can be better than a hard workout

We’re designed to be active, yet modern life sees us sitting for hours on our commute before chaining us to a desk for another eight. Physical inactivity is one of the biggest causes of premature death – according to the World Health Organization it’s a greater health risk than being overweight or obese.

Unfortunately, studies have found that we simply can’t undo the damage that prolonged sitting does to us by going to a spinning or gym class for 45 minutes after work.

But there’s good news, too. A 2017 study by researchers in the Netherlands found that breaking up all that sitting with light activities through the day had significant improvements on blood glucose levels, over and beyond the kind of structured exercise programme we’d get at the gym. So, move more during the day, every day and weight loss will be a side-effect.

All five of these natural interventions will improve your health, but if I had to prioritise one it would be the first.

Walk at least 10,000 steps per day

I’m the first to admit that walking 10,000 steps a day is a completely arbitrary goal. It’s also true that you can’t outwalk a bad diet – if you’re eating the wrong things, no amount of strolling can reverse the damage you do – but it’s a good simple rule to set us in the right direction.

I know that 10,000 sounds like an awful lot of steps, but it’s less than you might think; 1,000 steps is only about 10 minutes on your feet. Make it a rule that you never sit down for more than one hour at a time. Put a reminder on your computer or get your Fitbit to buzz you every 60 minutes and, if you haven’t stood up, go to the drinks machine or to the loo.

Do a form of strength training twice a week

Muscle is the forgotten organ: helping to regulate our hormones, increase our potential to make energy, make us less likely to develop type 2 diabetes and reduce inflammation – a driver of almost every modern disease we have.

Above the age of 30, if we’re physically inactive we lose up to three to five per cent of our muscle mass every decade. Between the ages of 50 and 60, muscle power declines by around three per cent each year. This can become an extremely serious problem, known as “sarcopenia”, as loss of muscle mass is a strong predictor of late-life mortality.

The best way to reverse it is regular strength-training, so I created a five-minute kitchen workout (right) to help my patients fit it in around their busy lives. To begin with, aim to do this workout twice a week. The secret is to start slowly and build up.

Do high-intensity interval training (HIIT) twice a week

One recent study found that an 11-minute HIIT workout gives as much benefit as one hour of continuous activity. It’s great for weight loss and especially good at getting rid of dangerous visceral fat around the organs.

There are a lot of different versions of HIIT, but think of it as any period of high-intensity movement followed by a period of low-intensity movement, which forces your body to adapt.

If you like going to the gym, jump on a treadmill and do 40 seconds at 12km per hour (or whatever pace feels very hard to you). Then, for 80 seconds, go at a much easier 4km per hour. Repeat three to five times.

You don’t need a gym membership or fancy clothes, though: how about doing 10 burpees, 10 star jumps and 10 side lunges sequentially in your living room for 40 seconds? Spend the next 80 seconds walking around slowly and then repeat five times.

Make a habit of exercise snacking

Make a habit of doing three or four “movement snacks” five days a week. For me, the kitchen has always been a fantastic place to indulge in a quick movement snack. I do 20 squats with my kids in the time it takes for spinach to steam. You could take two bottles of olive oil and lift them up over your head and to the sides, hop on each leg for 30 seconds or even simply jump from side to side. The point is to get your heart pumping three or four times a day. It’s these little things you do every day that translate into big health outcomes.

Do daily glute exercises to help warm them up

We usually think of our bottoms as something to sit on, but our glutes – our buttock muscles – are among the most important muscles in the body and, if they’re off, there can be knock-on effects for many others.

A lot of back pain is actually caused by having sleepy backsides. I know first-hand how important these muscles are, having suffered severe back pain for 10 years. After years of looking for solutions, I found four exercises where the only option available to your brain is to switch on your glutes. They completely eliminated my pain – now I do them every morning while my coffee is brewing, and use them with my patients to great success.

Visit my website, drchatterjee.com, for videos in which I walk you through each of these exercises.

Note: If you have any concerns about performing any of the suggested movements, you should consult a healthcare professional beforehand.

Tomorrow: Sleep your way to a healthier life