Is activity snacking good for mental health?

These are examples of ‘physical activity snacks’; short, simple bouts of movement that can be done anywhere, anytime without special equipment or a dedicated workout time. 

According to Dr Mike Trott, from UQ’s Medical School, outside of increasing physical activity, these bite sized choices can have significant benefits for people living with severe mental illness. 

Activity snacks remove barriers to exercise

Physical activity snacks remove barriers such as memberships, access to facilities or equipment, or even simply the means or motivation to leave the house to move. 

You don’t need all the bells and whistles, they can be small choices, incorporated within your day. 

Dr Trott explains physical activity snacking can reduce the pressure around exercising. 

“The goal is not fitness in the conventional sense,” Dr Trott said.

“The aim is to interrupt prolonged periods of sedentary behaviour, which is itself an independent risk factor for a range of negative health outcomes.

“The underlying philosophy is that something is always better than nothing.”

Making exercise manageable for people with severe mental illness

People living with conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder often face a unique cluster of challenges when it comes to engaging in traditional exercise. 

Many of these barriers are shared with the general population- they are just more pronounced.

“These include socioeconomic deprivation, cognitive difficulties, and the side effects of medications,” Dr Trott said. 

“Antipsychotic medications, for example, can cause sedation and significantly reduce spontaneous physical activity.

“Traditional exercise programmes rarely account for these realities, and physical activity snacks, by contrast, are flexible enough to work around them.

For people with severe mental illness, these are activities that feel manageable even on difficult days, that can be repeated, extended, or slightly increased when the individual feels ready.

“There's no threshold you need to hit, no performance to measure, the goal is simply to move a little more than you did yesterday,” Dr Trott explains.

“If you don’t move more than you did yesterday- that's ok, just moving a little bit every hour or two is still good.”

Small choices can lead to a healthier future

The reality is that there is a substantial proportion of the population who don’t like exercise in the traditional sense, even if they aren’t restrained by additional barriers. 

Dr Trott believes this is where physical activity snacks can help, and as for his recommendation- simply stand up!

“If you have been sitting for a while, stand up, walk to another room and come back, that’s all it needs to be,” Dr Trott said. 

For clinicians, physical activity snacks provide an evidence-based framework for recommending exercise that is realistic and tailored to the lived experience of people with severe mental illness. 

“Rather than prescribing unrealistic exercise targets, clinicians can encourage small, flexible movements that fit naturally into everyday life,” Dr Trott said.

“This matters deeply when viewed against the broader backdrop of health inequality. 

“People with severe mental illness experience a striking mortality gap compared to the general population, much of it driven by preventable physical health conditions. 

“Even modest increases in daily movement, accumulated over time, have the potential to make a meaningful long-term difference to the health of an individual.”

As to how to approach the conversation with patients, Dr Trott recommends:

1. Ask:  screen for current and past physical activities and ask what they enjoyed.
2. Assess: evaluate the safety risk including current or previous injuries.
3. Advise: help create a plan and provide support to set achievable goals.  
4. Arrange:  plan a follow-up after introducing activity snacks.

The full research is published in British Journal of Sports Medicine.