How to Stay Healthy Even on Crazy-Busy Days

Raise your hand if you wish there were more hours in a day. Hand up? You’re not alone. According to research presented last week at the Population Association of America’s annual meeting in New Orleans, people who work out and prepare their own food on the same day may be dedicating more time to one of those healthy habits—at the expense of the other habit.

Researchers used data from the nationally representative American Time Use Survey to come to that conclusion; they looked at information from more than 112,000 American adults who had been surveyed about their activities during a 24-hour period between 2003 and 2010.

The findings: Women spent an average of nine minutes on their workouts, compared to the average of 19 minutes that men spent on theirs. In addition, women spent an average of 44 minutes on food prep, while men spent less than 17 minutes making meals. That means that the average respondent spent less than an hour of their day on exercise and cooking combined.

By applying a statistical model, researchers found that, in general, the more time people spent preparing food on a given day, the less likely they were to spend as much time exercising. This association, while not causal, “suggests there could be a tradeoff between time spent preparing food and time spent exercising,” says lead study author Rachel Tumin, a doctoral student in epidemiology in The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health. Tumin points out that researchers only looked at one 24-hour period, so it’s possible that the respondents devoted more time to the activity they skimped on during the rest of the week.

Oftentimes, you have to cut back on certain activities to create time for others. But when it comes to your health, you shouldn’t have to make concessions. With a little strategizing, you can fit both fitness and healthy, home-cooked meals into your day.

Quick workouts you’ll love:

15-Minute Workout: Total-Body Toning