When you think of advent calendars, do you think of chocolate?
Well, swapping sweet treats for the day’s activities may be the key to avoiding festive bloat.
With evidence suggesting people gain up to 2 pounds (0.9 kg) over Christmas, scientists found that festive-themed exercise before the big day helped 107 inactive adults. I wanted to see if it would help me tighten my butt.
Exercises such as “snowball sit-ups” and “reindeer dashing” were used as part of an advent calendar created by researchers at Loughborough University.
Researchers at Loughborough University used Christmas-themed exercises such as the “snowman sit-up” and “reindeer sprint” as part of an advent calendar.
People in the trial did about 21 minutes of physical activity each week compared to those who were only given leaflets advising them on how to live a healthier life.
In order to maintain a slim figure, not only diet but also exercise is important.
The NHS recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity such as cycling or brisk walking each week.
Experts said people may welcome public health campaigns to be more physically active and less sedentary during festivities.
Pilot results were published in The BMJ’s Christmas issue.
The researchers were unable to comment on its effectiveness because the sample size was so small.
But they said it’s safe, cheap, easy to do on a large scale, and has the potential to change long-term behavior towards physical activity.
Another activity included in the pilot was the “Christmas Delivery” which involved either walking, jogging or running for 30 minutes depending on the difficulty selected.
The 107 inactive adults who participated were recruited from social media, workplaces, and community groups in November 2021.
Participants were emailed their daily activities from December 1st to December 24th.
Activities include Star Jump, ‘Reindeer Dash’ Sprint, ’10 Rhodes Alley Ping’ Rope Skip, ‘Lay the Table’ Plank and ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’ Christmas Song Dance.
Participants were also able to select a difficulty level for each day.
The options were Easy Elf (low intensity), Moderate Mrs Claus (medium intensity), and Strenuous Santa (high intensity).
Another activity included in the pilot was the “Christmas Delivery” which involved either walking, jogging or running for 30 minutes depending on the difficulty selected.
Burpees were called “Christmas jumpers” and squats were called “goose alley laying”.
People who participated in an activity emergence, called the intervention group, were compared to a control group who had just been given a “healthy living” leaflet on December 1.
All participants were asked how many minutes per week they spent doing moderate-intensity exercise and how many days they did muscle-strengthening exercise.
About half of the participants in both the intervention and control groups were asked to wear accelerometers (gadgets that track the amount and intensity of physical activity) on their wrists 24 hours a day for the duration of the study.
The intervention group was asked to rate how much they enjoyed the idea of an advent calendar and to detail which activities they completed each day and with what intensity.
By week 3, trial group participants were recording 21 minutes of activity each week.
The intervention group recorded more than half a day of strength-strengthening exercise per week than the control group.
Also, on average, people in the intervention group spent 59 minutes per day sitting during the intervention. This was a shorter time than people in the control group.
ACTIVITIES One of the activities included in the Advent Calendar was the ‘Jumping Rope of the 10 Lords’.
However, the data from the accelerometer showed little difference in the amount of active time between those doing Advent exercises and those who didn’t.
Nearly 90% of those selected were Caucasian females with an average age of 46 years, and 58% of all participants were overweight or living with obesity.
“The public was interested in a Christmas-themed physical activity intervention that also showed potential for reducing sedentary time and increasing physical activity participation,” the authors wrote. I’m here.
“Enjoyment and adherence to this intervention shows that the public welcomes public health campaigns to encourage more physical activity and less sedentary behavior during the holiday season.”
In related news…
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Don’t like gym?Don’t worry… just one minute of activity (like running to the bus) can extend your life
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