We all know biscuits, cookies, and crisps between meals aren’t good, but they can be irresistible. So often, anything in a pack by the checkout is ultra-processed and designed to hook us. That’s the power of the big brands – carefully engineered advertising and formulas that exploit our taste buds and brain chemistry.
But here’s the thing: we do need snacks during the day – small 5-minute breaks to reset, indulge ourselves, and get a little dopamine kick. The trick is turning “bad snacks” into “good snacks,” or what I call “health hacks”.
A “good snack” or “health hack” should be a 5-minute indulgence your body and mind will love. By peppering your day with “health hacks,” those tiny indulgences can add not just pleasure, but potentially years of healthy life.
This article shows how to swap the five minute ultra processed snack into a “health hack” that strengthens wellbeing.
The Snacks Our Body Loves
1. Hourly Movement
Our bodies evolved over 300,000 years to move frequently. Yet in just the last 40 years, technology has allowed us to sit motionless for hours. Even ergonomic chairs are so well designed that our muscles barely need to twitch. For leisure, the TV, social media or computer games, provide more of the same and even shopping and cooking can be done online or via a delivery site.
Movement is now optional and many of us opt out. Prolonged sitting has been described as ‘the new smoking’.
Even gym sessions twice a week can’t compensate for prolonged sedentary time – sitting still too long results in a major drop in muscle activity and blood flow and is linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mortality.
Health hack: Set a prompt at 5 mins before every hour. Stand, stretch, walk across the room, or climb a flight of stairs.
Health hack booster: If you have a standing desk, switch between sitting and standing each hour. Otherwise, add some resistance to your movement – wear a rucksack or weighted vest when climbing stairs for a strength and cardiovascular boost.
Reference: Sedentary behavior review (2017, open access)
2. An Afternoon Recharge
Most of us don’t get the restorative quality sleep we need, and sleep disruption is linked to overeating and increased metabolic risks. Even well-rested people naturally experience a performance dip around 2 p.m., driven by our circadian rhythms as our body temperature dips in the afternoon, signaling the body to produce more melatonin for the night ahead.
Health hack: A 10-minute power nap can provide a rapid mental refresh and improve alertness, mood, and cognitive performance without harming nighttime sleep.
Health hack booster: Drink a coffee before your nap (so long as that’s before 3 p.m.). Since caffeine kicks in after about 20 minutes, you wake with a double boost.
References: CDC — About Sleep | Midday nap review (2017, open access)
3. A Bit of Roughage
Sometimes only food will do. Cravings are often shaped by what you ate earlier – for example, a sugary breakfast, which includes refined breads and oats, creates a blood sugar spike and crash that drives mid-morning hunger. Just to note, there’s more to foods than calories and, the best breakfasts, are high in protein as they not only support healthy muscle, but improve satiety and body temperature.
Health hack: Keep a supply of cut fruit, or vegetables, such as broccoli or carrots, possibly with a hummus dip and nuts, such as almonds, pistachios, walnuts and Brazil nuts.
Health hack booster: Eat more protein at breakfast – as we get older, we get less responsive to small amounts of protein and need a larger amount to trigger muscle protein synthesis. Then add nutrient diversity to your day – your gut microbiome thrives on variety, and eating a rainbow of plant foods is linked with better long-term health.
References
4. De-Stress Frequently
We all get mentally stuck in loops of stress or over-focus where we can’t see the wood for the trees. Stress causes a spike in cortisol, which in short bursts can be good, as it increases alertness, focus and motivation, but left unchecked is harmful as it increases anxiety, raises blood pressure, causes sleep disruption, and reduces our body resilience. In my article “Don’t Panic – The Key To Ageing Well” I explained that we need both the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system modes.
Health hack: Just 5 minutes of meditation or deep breathing can reset your stress response and re-energise your mind and body. Short “micro-meditations” can improve your heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of autonomic resilience.
Health hack booster: Stimulate your vagus nerve — splash your face with cold water, hum, or sing (perhaps not in public!). These simple actions help shift the body into a calmer parasympathetic state.
References: Mindfulness/meditation & HRV — meta-analysis (2021) | Cold water face immersion increases vagal activity (2018)
5. Grab the Morning Light
Light is the strongest signal to reset your body clock. Exposure to natural light within an hour of waking helps suppress melatonin and align circadian rhythms, to improve energy in the day and lay the ground work for sleep quality at night.
Health hack: Step outside for 5 minutes in the morning and see what mother nature has in store – even on cloudy days, natural light is far stronger than indoor bulbs.
Health hack booster: Replace scrolling the news on your phone with a short walk to buy a daily paper or morning coffee. You’ll get light, movement, and a social boost (with even some local gossip).
References: Light & human circadian rhythms — review (2019)
6. Action Social Connections
Humans are wired for social engagement. Strong social ties are associated with lower rates of depression, reduced dementia risk, and longer life expectancy. Even small, daily interactions make a difference and reduce loneliness and the risk of dementia.
Health hack: Swap an email for a walk to a colleague’s desk, or if you work remotely, take a short stroll in your neighbourhood and chat with your neighbours. It’s also great for gossip!
Health snack booster: Join a community group or volunteer once a week. Giving back improves mood, increases gratitude, and builds resilience.
Reference: Social relationships & mortality — meta-analysis (PLOS Med, 2010)
In summary, we need distraction during the day, a small snack to break up the momentum and provide a dopamine kick. A well-chosen snack can actually be a “health hack”, not only to reset our body and mind, but to boost our quality of life. Some snacks, such as movement are essential every hour. Others, fit well in the morning or early afternoon. Even food snacks can be well chosen to enhance our wellbeing. Having a variety of easy access “health hacks” makes every day more interesting. Some can be turbo-charged so they’re even more rewarding. And all should make reaching for the ultra-processed and deliberately positioned check-out snacks a thing of the past.
