Health benefits of exercise snacks and their translational pathways

Zhuang Mingnan; Shi Donglin

doi:10.16689/j.cnki.cn11-9349/r.2026.02.003

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Electronic Journal of Metabolism and Nutrition of Cancer ›› 2026, Vol. 13 ›› Issue (2) : 186-194. DOI: 10.16689/j.cnki.cn11-9349/r.2026.02.003

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Health benefits of exercise snacks and their translational pathways

¹Zhuang Mingnan, ²Shi Donglin

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Abstract

Physical inactivity and prolonged sedentary behavior have become major global health risk factors. Identifying feasible strategies to increase physical activity under real-world constraints of time and space is therefore a pressing priority. This paper systematically reviews the concept and typology of fragmented exercise and clarifies its relationships with sedentary breaks and accumulated exercise. Drawing on an “acute effects-long-term adaptations-disease translation” framework, we synthesize existing evidence on health benefits and translational potential. In the short term, incorporating multiple brief activity bouts into sedentary contexts can significantly improve glucose and lipid metabolism as well as vascular endothelial function, thereby attenuating same-day harms induced by prolonged sitting. With sustained intervention, fragmented exercise can produce structural benefits in cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular function, and body composition. Centered on key physiological hubs—glucose-lipid metabolism, vascular function/blood pressure, cardiorespiratory fitness, and muscular function/body composition—we propose translational pathways for fragmented exercise across several populations, including those at metabolic risk and with type 2 diabetes mellitus, individuals with hypertension and elevated cardiovascular risk, patients with cardiopulmonary disease and those undergoing perioperative rehabilitation, and older adults with frailty and sarcopenia. We highlight the time efficiency and contextual feasibility of fragmented exercise and its complementarity with pharmacological, nutritional, and other interventions. However, current evidence is limited by small sample sizes, short follow-up periods, and narrow intervention settings and prescription patterns, which precludes identification of optimal combinations of intensity, timing, and frequency. Future research should conduct large-scale, long-term randomized controlled trials across disease spectra and risk-stratified populations, leverage wearable technologies to elucidate dose-response relationships, and develop evaluable, individualized fragmented-exercise prescriptions to strengthen the evidence base for multi-context implementation and clinical translation.

Key words

Fragmented exercise / Accumulated exercise / Physical activity / Health benefits / Translational pathways / Muscle function / Body composition / Personalization

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Zhuang Mingnan, Shi Donglin. Health benefits of exercise snacks and their translational pathways[J]. Electronic Journal of Metabolism and Nutrition of Cancer. 2026, 13(2): 186-194 https://doi.org/10.16689/j.cnki.cn11-9349/r.2026.02.003

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