Exercise snacks, including other variants of brief intermittent bouts, are an emerging approach for increasing physical activity, although their operationalisation is unstandardised and their health benefits remain unclear. This scoping review aimed to explore characterisations of exercise snacks and summarise their effects on health in adults and older adults. Clinical trial registers (clinicaltrials.gov and ANZCTR) and electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, CENTRAL, PsycINFO) were searched from inception to 1 June 2023, for ongoing and published studies of exercise snacks. Backwards and forwards citation tracking was also conducted to identify additional eligible studies. Studies were included if they investigated exercise snacks—brief intermittent bouts of physical activity spread across the day—in adults or older adults. We included epidemiological, experimental, quasi-experimental and qualitative studies that examined the effect of exercise snacks on any health outcomes or described barriers to and enablers of these approaches. Thirty-two studies were included (7 trial registers, 1 published protocol, 3 epidemiological studies and 20 trials reported across 21 studies). Three main terms were used to describe exercise snacks: exercise snack(ing), snacktivity and vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA). Participants were predominantly physically inactive but otherwise healthy adults or older adults. Exercise snacks were feasible and appeared safe. Epidemiological studies showed steep, near-linear associations of VILPA with reduced all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality as well as reduced incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events and cancer. The limited trial evidence showed exercise snacks had modest effects on improving cardiorespiratory fitness, whereas effects on physical function, mood, quality of life and other health outcomes were equivocal. In conclusion, exercise snacks appear feasible and safe for adults and older adults and may have promising health benefits, but this is mostly based on findings from a limited number of small quasi-experimental studies, small randomised trials or qualitative studies. More studies are needed in individuals with chronic disease. This emerging physical activity approach may have appeal for individuals who find structured exercise unfeasible.

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运动零食，包括短暂间歇性运动的其他变体，是一种增加体力活动的新兴方法，尽管其操作不标准化且其健康益处仍不清楚。本次范围审查旨在探讨运动零食的特征并总结其对成人和老年人健康的影响。从开始到 2023 年 6 月 1 日，对临床试验登记册（clinicaltrials.gov 和 ANZCTR）和电子数据库（PubMed、CINAHL、CENTRAL、PsycINFO）进行了检索，以查找正在进行和已发表的运动零食研究。还进行了向后和向前引文跟踪，以确定其他合格的研究。如果他们调查成年人或老年人的运动零食（一天中短暂间歇性的体力活动），则将其纳入研究。我们纳入了流行病学、实验、准实验和定性研究，检查运动零食对任何健康结果的影响，或描述这些方法的障碍和推动因素。纳入了 32 项研究（7 项试验登记、1 项已发表的方案、3 项流行病学研究和 21 项研究报告的 20 项试验）。使用三个主要术语来描述运动零食：运动零食、零食性和剧烈的间歇性生活方式身体活动（VILPA）。参与者主要是身体不活跃但其他方面健康的成年人或老年人。运动零食是可行的，而且看起来很安全。流行病学研究表明，VILPA 与降低全因死亡率、心血管死亡率和癌症死亡率以及主要不良心血管事件和癌症的发生率之间存在陡峭的、近乎线性的关联。有限的试验证据表明，运动零食对改善心肺健康的影响不大，但对身体机能、情绪、生活质量和其他健康结果的影响却模棱两可。总之，运动零食对于成年人和老年人来说似乎是可行和安全的，并且可能具有良好的健康益处，但这主要基于有限数量的小型准实验研究、小型随机试验或定性研​​究的结果。需要对慢性病患者进行更多研究。这种新兴的身体活动方法可能对那些认为结构化锻炼不可行的人有吸引力。

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