Don't have time to exercise? Finding it is easier than it seems

Barcelona"I just don't have time! I'm overwhelmed!" These are phrases we repeat to ourselves when we consider making a change to a more active lifestyle. It's true, and we can't deny it, that the pace of life traps us: family, work, various responsibilities, and commitments push us to the limit of the time we have throughout the day, not to mention the need for a minimum number of hours of sleep to stay healthy. But in recent years, we've been so insistently told that we need a minimum amount of physical activity each week that if we don't meet it, we feel like we've failed. The World Health Organization recommends 150 to 300 minutes of aerobic exercise per week, to which we must add strength, balance, stability, and joint mobility exercises. With this article, we want to introduce a new paradigm thanks to a series of recent studies that They show us that perhaps so much time isn't necessary. to get in shape.

Dr. Mariona Violan, a sports medicine specialist, president of the Catalan Society of Sports Medicine, and head of physical exercise plans for health at the Department of Sports of the Generalitat of Catalonia, always repeats the same phrase to her patients: "We are genetically designed to work out, that's the problem; listening to music and stimulating the brain, but movement is part of our genetics, and many of the things that happen to us are because we prioritize the comfort of doing nothing and don't realize that we have opportunities to move during our daily lives."

These studies we are referring to have demonstrated different aspects that we can divide into two large groups that everyone will surely recognize: on the one hand, those people who don't find the time during the week to practice their hobbies, many of them related to movement and physical activity, and focus all their time on the weekend; and, on the other hand, those people who are completely inactive.

"I love the concept of the weekend warriors (popularly known in English as weekend warriors), which are those people we consider active sedentary. During the week they spend between 8 and 9 hours on sedentary work tasks, but they manage to reach the recommended exercise time on the weekend, doing activities they like and enjoy, and they achieve physical improvements and emotional well-being,” explains Dr. Violan.

The studies, carried out in different fields and published in prestigious scientific journals such as Nature either Exercise and Sport Sciences ReviewsStudies show that focusing activity on the weekend also provides significant health benefits, although it's recommended to spread it out over the seven days of the week. Data shows that these weekend warriors can experience a health impact of up to a 24% lower risk of dementia, 21% fewer cardiovascular events, 45% fewer Parkinson's disease, 43% fewer diabetes, 43% fewer depressions, and 37% fewer anxiety, among other chronic, non-infectious diseases with a significant impact.

Small doses that are also healthy

On the other hand, these recent studies open up a range of new possibilities in terms of health benefits for all those who are completely sedentary, simply by applying a series of small changes in mindset and in the way things are done, without drastically impacting their daily routine.

And this is where the concept of the on-the-go snacks These are, by definition, small bursts of movement that we do at different times of the day and integrate into the rest of our daily activities, instead of blocking out a specific time to go to the gym, swim, run, play padel... They are bursts of less than a minute performed throughout the day.

These snacks offer improvements in cardiorespiratory capacity, strength, blood sugar control, and greater fat loss. "It has been proven that these small periods of movement increase nitric oxide at the arterial level and improve blood flow. These advantages result, among other things, in improved blood pressure, vascular health, and glucose transport to tissues, among other important benefits for the body. Violán.

But what do we mean when we talk about the snacks What about movement? The concept is very broad and can encompass all kinds of individual creativity, but we can cite some examples: getting up from our workstation every sixty minutes and walking a few steps, always using the stairs instead of the elevator (provided we don't have limitations regarding our knees or hips), waiting for the shower water to heat up; doing some push-ups while resting on the sink before brushing our teeth, or doing some abdominal or glute exercises while watching television, or doing some joint mobility exercises before entering a meeting that is expected to be long.

"To this concept we can add VILPA, which are high-intensity exercises that we do during the day, often without realizing it, such as running to catch the bus. It has also been shown that those who perform low-intensity activities already have a positive impact on their quality of life in the long run. Violán.

The doctor states emphatically that "many times it's not that we don't have time, but rather that we are the ones who put up barriers for ourselves." Professionals recommend breaking down these barriers and fostering adherence through simple actions.

These actions can include making a change and abandoning private transportation in favor of public transport, for example, getting off two stops early, before the one that would drop you off right in front of work or home, and walking those five or ten minutes. "If we do this routinely, we can observe benefits such as greater weight loss, improved blood pressure, or better blood glucose levels," says Dr. Violán.

Using our bodies to get from one place to another, whether on foot or by bicycle, whenever possible, is one of the easiest ways to incorporate movement into our daily lives and break free from a sedentary lifestyle. Doing housework or gardening, actively playing with children, or accompanying elderly people on walks while chatting with them instead of sitting on the sofa can be options that help us make these small changes. It has been shown that they already have a positive impact on our health in the medium and long term.

And finally, Dr. Violan makes a very revealing clarification: "To make a change, you have to be clear about why you do things. Be aware of your own priorities and preferences and understand your personal reality at any given moment, but whatever your preferences or priorities may be, what brings you results and adherence to an active lifestyle."