Yes, Stair Climbing, Housework Count as Exercise. They Can Even Boost Your Mood

Small amounts of physical activity, like everyday chores, can boost your mood and even count toward your exercise goals. Image Credit: Getty Images/Oleh_Slobodeniuk New research has found that as little as 5 to 10 minutes of physical activity can provide an immediate boost to both mood and energy. Exercise and everyday movement are associated with meaningful improvements in emotional health. Even small bursts of physical activity can help you meet your fitness goals. Exercise provides various benefits for physical and mental health — even in small amounts. A large-scale study found that even 5 to 10 minutes of physical activity can improve energy levels and mood. The findings, recently published in Nature Human Behavior, emphasize the value of light-intensity movement. Everyday activities, such as household chores, taking the stairs, or going for a short walk, can have immediate positive effects on well-being. The researchers identified a bidirectional connection between movement and mood. Translation: Movement boosts your mood, which in turn, only makes you want to move more. “There is a wealth of research supporting the connection between movement and an enhanced mood, partially through the release of endorphins and dopamine. Those same neurotransmitters directly increase motivation and drive, thereby making us more willing to be physically active,” Dara Houp, PsyD, licensed clinical psychologist with Pathways Psychological Services, told Healthline. Houp wasn’t involved in the study. Role of physical activity on mood The study was one of the largest real-world behavioral tracking initiatives. The researchers analyzed 8,000 international participants and over 320,000 individual mood ratings spanning 67 distinct datasets. Traditional clinical definitions in the past have limited exercise to high intensity gym workouts. However, the authors of this study used fitness-tracking wearables to measure spontaneous everyday movements. This allowed researchers to consider t