Incidental Exercise

Abbey Watts

Incidental Exercise

Often when we think of exercise we think of structured planned blocks of exercise, but we often neglect or are unaware of the benefits of incidental exercise and the role it can have on our health. 

Incidental exercise is referred to as any unplanned or unstructured movement or activity that we do over the course of a day.  Whilst incidental exercise may not be enough to meet the weekly load, intensities and volume of exercise that is required. It is a really good way to get started with incorporating more exercise and physical activity into your routine and can have health benefits on both physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing and help to reduce and manage risk of disease. 

Incidental exercise can have a big impact for people who haven’t been active and might find long bouts of exercise challenging to start with. Additionally can be helpful for people who work in a job that requires long periods of sitting at a desk or maybe lots of driving and are time poor.

Some examples of incidental exercises may be: 

  •     Taking the stairs instead of the lift
  •     Parking a little bit further away to walk a little extra. 
  •     Leisure activities like playing with your children at the park 
  •     Cleaning tasks 

The ACSM recommended guidelines are engaging in moderate-intensity aerobic activity for a minimum of 30 minutes five times per week or vigorous-intensity aerobic activity for a minimum of 20 minutes, three times per week. As well as resistance exercises for the major muscle groups a minimum of 2 times per week. Research suggests that 31 % of the world’s population is not meeting this minimum PA level for health benefits. 

Some tips if you are wanting to get more incidental exercise: 

  • Stack some exercise onto a task you are already doing, for example, if you have a phone call to make, maybe using that opportunity to go for a walk around the block to take it. 
  • Tracking your daily steps as a way to measure your activity levels daily and across the week. 
  • Setting a time aside in advance at the start of the day or the week

Benefits of engaging in regular physical activity

  • Improve health markers associated with chronic disease  ( eg. blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol) 
  • Manage age related changes to maintain functional mobility and independence 
  • Increase quality of life 
  • Improve ability to regulate and manage stress 
  • Improve emotional wellbeing