Hi friends,

If you subscribe to this newsletter, you likely take your health and exercise seriously. You also probably know that exercise acts like a miracle drug for preventing chronic disease and early death. Yet many people still struggle to meet the recommended exercise requirements.

The CDC recommends adults get either 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity each week.

However, in 2020, the CDC reported that only 24.2% of adults met both the aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines.

Several barriers prevent people from exercising, including cost, motivation, resources, education, and the biggest constraint—time.

While it was once believed that exercise sessions needed to last at least 10 minutes to be beneficial, Jakicic and colleagues found that “Physical activity of any bout duration is associated with improved health outcomes, which includes all-cause mortality.”

Enter "exercise snacks"—high-intensity activities lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes, performed multiple times throughout the day. These short bursts have been shown to:

• Lower resting blood pressure and total cholesterol

• Reduce HbA1c (blood sugar) and C-reactive protein (inflammation)

• Improve body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness

The beauty of exercise snacks is their flexibility—any activity that significantly elevates your heart rate qualifies. Some examples include:

• Running up a few flights of stairs

• Sprinting the last 100 yards of your walk

• Performing 100 jumping jacks

• Doing as many air squats as possible in one minute

• Completing maximum pushups in one minute

When time is limited, a short period of vigorous exercise far surpasses no exercise at all. Even on days when you complete your normal workout routine, try incorporating exercise snacks to build this habit.

I prefer to do my exercise snack right after lunch for two key reasons: it enhances insulin sensitivity, helping my cells absorb glucose (blood sugar) more efficiently, and it prevents the typical post-meal energy crash.

Give exercise snacks a try—aim for a couple each day and let me know how they work for you!

Until next week,

Kevin

✍️ Quote I’m reflecting upon

“Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity.”

—James Clear

❤️ Things I’m enjoying

1. Podcast - How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci - Michael Gelb on the Modern Wisdom podcast. I have been fascinated by da Vinci for a few years and this episode is a great summary of who he was and what we can learn from him. One of my favorite takeaways from this episode was the Italian saying “La Dolce Vita”—meaning life is sweet. This is a good reminder that life is beautiful and we should make the time to enjoy it.

2. Book - Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe. It's an awesome book for learning how the physical world works. The author uses only the 1000 most common words to explain how things like microwaves, bridges, data centers, and the International Space Station work.

3. Coffee maker - Takeya Cold Brew Coffee Maker. I love the taste of cold brew but not the expensive price that comes with getting it at a coffee shop. This cold brew maker makes a solid coffee that’s not too difficult to make.