An interventional study of Exercise Snacking in Physical Inactivity, Sedentary Behavior and Cardiometabolic Health, sponsored by University of Wisconsin, River Falls. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-09.
Sponsored by University of Wisconsin, River Falls · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Regular physical activity is associated with numerous health benefits, yet many young adults do not achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Exercise snacking, which involves performing brief bouts of physical activity throughout the day, may provide a practical alternative to traditional exercise programs by making physical activity easier to incorporate into daily routines.
This randomized controlled trial will evaluate whether a 12-week exercise snacking intervention improves physical activity levels, aerobic fitness, cardiometabolic health, and psychological well-being in insufficiently active young adults. Participants will be randomly assigned to either an exercise snacking intervention or a usual behavior control group. Assessments will be completed at baseline, after the 12-week intervention, and after an additional 12-week follow-up period to determine whether any changes are maintained after the intervention ends.
The study will measure physical activity using wearable activity monitors and assess aerobic fitness, body composition, blood pressure, blood lipids, glucose, exercise motivation, affective responses to exercise, and mental well-being. The findings will help determine whether exercise snacking is an effective and sustainable strategy for improving health in young adults and may inform future physical activity recommendations and interventions
Regular physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other chronic health conditions. Despite these well-established benefits, many young adults do not achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Commonly reported barriers include limited time, competing academic or work demands, and difficulty maintaining structured exercise programs.
Exercise snacking, defined as accumulating multiple brief bouts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the day, has emerged as a potential strategy for increasing physical activity while minimizing many of the barriers associated with traditional exercise programs. Although short bouts of physical activity have demonstrated favorable acute physiological effects, relatively few randomized controlled trials have evaluated whether exercise snacking produces sustained improvements in objectively measured physical activity, physical fitness, cardiometabolic health, and psychological outcomes in free-living young adults.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a 12-week exercise snacking intervention improves physical activity behavior, aerobic fitness, cardiometabolic health, exercise motivation, affective responses to physical activity, and psychological well-being compared with a usual behavior control group. Participants will be randomly assigned to either an exercise snacking intervention or a control condition. Following completion of the intervention, participants will be observed for an additional 12 weeks to evaluate the maintenance of behavioral and physiological changes after structured support is withdrawn.
The primary objectives are to determine whether exercise snacking increases objectively measured physical activity and improves aerobic fitness. Secondary objectives are to evaluate changes in body composition, blood pressure, fasting cardiometabolic biomarkers, exercise motivation, affective responses to exercise, and psychological well-being. Exploratory analyses will examine whether changes in motivation and affective responses are associated with long-term maintenance of physical activity during the follow-up period.
This study will contribute to the growing evidence regarding practical, scalable approaches for increasing physical activity among young adults and may help inform future lifestyle interventions and public health recommendations aimed at promoting long-term engagement in regular physical activity
1,273 studies on the registry are indexed under Sedentary Behavior; 300 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 60 is close to the median of 60 across 1,076 interventional studies indexed under Sedentary Behavior.
Browse Sedentary Behavior studies →University of Wisconsin, River Falls is the lead sponsor of 5 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
BMI (body mass index)
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Clinically significant
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ECG (electrocardiogram)
A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants assigned to the exercise snacking group will complete a 12-week intervention consisting of multiple brief bouts (approximately 1-3 minutes each) of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity performed throughout the day. Participants will receive written instructions, examples of appropriate exercise snacks, and periodic check-ins to support adherence. The intervention is designed to increase daily physical activity by integrating short bouts of exercise into normal daily routines.
Behavioral: Exercise Snacking
Participants assigned to the control group will continue their usual daily activities for 12 weeks and will not receive instruction regarding exercise snacking or any structured physical activity program during the intervention period. They will complete the same outcome assessments as participants in the intervention group.
Participants assigned to the intervention group will complete multiple brief bouts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout each day for 12 weeks. Each exercise snack will typically last approximately 1-3 minutes and may include activities such as stair climbing, brisk walking, repeated sit-to-stands, body-weight squats, or other moderate-to-vigorous activities that can be incorporated into daily routines. Participants will receive standardized written instructions, examples of exercise snacks, and periodic follow-up visits to monitor adherence and reinforce study procedures.
Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity
Average daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity measured objectively using an accelerometer worn for seven consecutive days.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, and Week 24
Body Fat Percentage
Body composition measured using air displacement plethysmography (BodPod).
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Aerobic Fitness
Aerobic fitness assessed during a submaximal cycle ergometer exercise test with respiratory gas analysis using a metabolic measurement system.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, and Week 24
Fasting Blood Glucose
Capillary fasting glucose measured using the Cholestech LDX analyzer.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Blood Lipid Profile
Total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides measured from fasting capillary blood samples.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Exercise Motivation
Exercise motivation will be assessed using the 24-item Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-3 (BREQ-3). The questionnaire produces six subscale scores: amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, integrated regulation, and intrinsic regulation. Each subscale is calculated as the mean of four items and ranges from 0 to 4. Higher scores indicate a greater degree of the corresponding type of exercise motivation; therefore, higher scores do not uniformly represent a better or worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Psychological Well-Being
Psychological well-being will be assessed using the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5). The five items are summed to produce a raw total score ranging from 0 to 25. Higher scores indicate better psychological well-being.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Depressive Symptoms
Depressive symptoms will be assessed using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Items are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 27. Higher scores indicate more severe depressive symptoms and therefore a worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Anxiety Symptoms
Anxiety symptoms will be assessed using the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7). Items are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 21. Higher scores indicate more severe anxiety symptoms and therefore a worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Perceived Stress
Perceived stress will be assessed using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Items are summed after reverse-scoring the positively stated items, producing a total score ranging from 0 to 40. Higher scores indicate greater perceived stress and therefore a worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Everyday Cognitive Failures
Everyday cognitive failures will be assessed using the 25-item Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ). Items are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate a greater frequency of everyday cognitive failures and therefore a worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Exercise-Related Affective Valence
Exercise-related affective valence will be assessed using the single-item Feeling Scale. Responses range from -5 ("very bad") to +5 ("very good"), with 0 representing "neutral." Higher scores indicate more positive affective valence and therefore a better outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Academic engagement (UWES-S)
Academic engagement will be assessed using the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students (UWES-S-9), which measures vigor, dedication, and absorption in academic activities. Each item is scored from 0 ("never") to 6 ("always/every day"). Higher scores indicate greater academic engagement and therefore a better outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 12, Week 24
Plan to share: Yes — De-identified individual participant data underlying the results reported in publications arising from this study may be shared with qualified researchers upon reasonable request to the Principal Investigator. Data will become available beginning six months after publication of the primary study results and remain available for up to five years. Requests should include a brief research proposal and analysis plan and will be evaluated based on scientific merit and the proposed use of the data. When applicable, a data use agreement will be required before data are shared. The study protocol, statistical analysis plan, data dictionary, and analytic code (if applicable) may also be made available. All data sharing will comply with institutional policies and applicable regulations to protect participant confidentiality.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Analytic code
Time frame: De-identified individual participant data and supporting documentation will be available beginning six months after publication of the primary study results and will remain available for five years thereafter.
Access criteria: De-identified individual participant data, the study protocol, statistical analysis plan, and analytic code may be made available to qualified researchers upon reasonable request to the Principal Investigator. Requests should include a brief research proposal and analysis plan and will be evaluated based on scientific merit, investigator qualifications, and the proposed use of the data. When applicable, a data use agreement will be required prior to data sharing. All shared data will be de-identified and released in accordance with institutional policies and applicable regulations to protect participant confidentiality.
Started Aug 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2027, 16 months after the start.
Of 733 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Sedentary Behavior, half reached primary completion within 14 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 31. This study's planned 16 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 741 studies reached it within 14 months; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 31.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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University of Wisconsin, River Falls