An Exercise Regime Everyone Can Squeeze In

Short bursts of physical activity done sporadically throughout the day add up to real results

For those of us who are time poor, high intensity exercise can be incorporated into our daily routines by doing things like walking up stairs. Shutterstock

Have you recently carried heavy shopping bags up a few flights of stairs? Or run the last 100 feet to the station to catch your train? If you have, you may have unknowingly been doing a style of exercise called high-intensity incidental physical activity.

Our paper, published today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, shows this type of regular, incidental activity that gets you huffing and puffing is likely to produce health benefits, even if you do it in 30-second bursts, spread over the day.