Exercise snacks at work

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Developing a workplace exercise intervention

Physical inactivity is a longstanding public health problem, with lack of time proposed as a major limiting factor.

‘Exercise snacks’ are short bursts of vigorous exercise spread throughout the day, providing a time-effective strategy to meet daily exercise targets. Evidence suggests that accumulating exercise in this manner can improve health outcomes.

The overall aim of this project is to develop a workplace-based ‘exercise snacks’ intervention and evaluate its feasibility.

Studies

Study 1: Co-design of prototype exercise snacks intervention with end-users

This study aims to:

  • co-design an exercise snacks workplace intervention with end-users
  • explore the feasibility and acceptability of an exercise snacks workplace intervention with end-users.

Potential end-users of the exercise snacks workplace intervention include office workers, workplace health and safety professionals, managers, union representatives, and researchers with expertise in relevant fields such as physical activity, health promotion and organisational psychology.

Study 2: Pilot exercise snacks workplace intervention

This study aims to:

  • implement and evaluate the feasibility of a pilot exercise snacks workplace intervention (process evaluation)
  • assess the short-term effects of exercise snacking on physical and mental health indicators and job performance (impact evaluation).

We will partner with a company located in the Macquarie Park Innovation District to conduct this pilot study.

The exercise snacks menu will be designed based on the findings from Study 1.

Project funding

This project is funded by the Macquarie University Research Seeding Grant.

Research team

Research output

Project progress and the final report will be uploaded to this page. Check back for updates.