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Just a few squats every half an hour, or a brief walk seem to be able to significantly increase muscle remodeling (mps) comparable to just sitting. Not in itself a revelation to most but maybe motivation that even a small amount of something is better than nothing

Interrupting prolonged sitting with short "activity snacks" improves the utilization of dietary amino acids for MyoPS. The long-term impact of this practical lifestyle modification for muscle mass or quality should be investigated.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Prolonged sitting can impair postprandial glycemia, lipidemia, and insulin sensitivity regardless of previous health status. We demonstrate that interrupting prolonged sitting with brief periods of activity, such as body weight squats or short bouts of walking, improves the efficiency of dietary amino acid utilizations for muscle contractile protein synthesis. This further emphasizes the importance of minimizing sedentary time to improve the postprandial metabolism of all macronutrients.

I love the term “activity snack” and am gonna use that from now on.

So… some activity is better than none

As a general rule of thumb yeah. Inactivity is a killer, literally. You can never retire from physical fitness.

This! It does wonders for my back and knees! Feels great

Those squats can add up, too. Years ago when I was losing weight I’d do like 5 squats every 15 minutes or so. I figured I was just burning a few calories here and there. They’re just body weight squats, right? Well when I lost the weight I realized I had some incredibly big thighs. Then I realized I was doing 100-200 squats daily for an entire year. Sometimes even the small things you do can add up

Every hour or so I alway get up and do a little dance, stretch and do a small separate task then come back to my game, code, whatever I was doing. This allows me to code/game/project for many, many hours without getting sore/mentally exhausted.

Yup. I remember being depressed a few years back and spent all day everyday for a week on my pc and didn't exercise or even try to do anything else. It was in rough shape. Even my 30min walk to work which is a non issue, gave me trouble as my legs got weirdly sore and my feet were killin me

What do you do for work that you can excuse yourself every 15 minutes for squats?

Programmer. I mean it only takes a few seconds to rattle off 5 squats. Standing up from your chair? Add 5 squats. Same with sitting down. I don’t even have to take my hands off the keyboard and I can do them. After awhile it’s second nature to find a few moments to do a few squats. You’re pretty much doing a squat any time you sit down, add a few more

50 to 100 jumping jacks every hour. Microcardio.

>You’re pretty much doing a squat any time you sit down

Well, a half squat.

It's an anti-snack, because it burns calories rather than adding them.

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Yes! Don't discount the article just because it seems obvious, though - part of science is also quantification.

I was hoping it was a snack during the activity.

What are you doing that you don't have time for 5 squats?

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Sitting in a meeting with other people for more than 15 minutes

I suppose if I'd work with other people they'd notice, probably think it's a little odd for a bit but they'd get used to it

I'm sure they're not that strict with it.

That is the walk to the fridge to get a snack right?

This paper is about a much more specific question than just "is it better to not stay still for a long time" or whatever you think you're being clever about. Actually bother to read the abstract at least.

Oh there are no rules against it, but if you stand up in the middle of a meeting and start doing squats you will quickly become "that guy" that does squats in the middle of a meeting

Well then maybe they should use your time more productively.

Maybe you'll get scheduled for less meetings. Win win.

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Ive been just trying to implement them but so far they leave me drained for my jogs. Need to find some balance

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I started treatment for ADHD which is going well. A little too well, because I forget to stop working. I have set alarms every hour of my workday to remind me to get up, stretch, walk around the apartment, do a load of laundry, etc. It's good for my eyes to take breaks as well.

Ive tried microdosing squats before, but i just seem incapable of forming habits. Pretty much the same with every activity and interest, actually. About a month in, i just stop.

This looks like an ad by whatever corporation thought of the term ”activity snack”

I thik OP meant that they weren't strict with the "every 15 minutes" bit. Not that your colleagues weren't strict with their "no squats during the meeting" policy :D

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I really dislike it - snack already implies eating a small portion. Applying it to an activity that is meant to alter biomarkers of health related to blood sugar and exercise is unnecessarily confusing.

This is exactly why people dismiss a lot of science. They don't understand how important it is to distinguish anecdotal or hypothetical results from empirical ones. Or that it's usually more complex than they realise.

Nobody at my office would bat an eyelash over this. Some people eveb sitt on those giant bouncy ball things.

I mean, that’s exactly what the article says, small bursts of activity counteracts the bad effects of prolonged sitting. “Activity snacks” is catchy and imo not misleading at all.

You’re getting very emotional over a minor article

And unless you get up really weird or die in the chair, you will eventually do the other half of that squat.

5 squats can be done in 10 seconds. Don't really have to excuse anything

I was hoping it was having a snack as an activity.

Challenge accepted.

Same here. I do tons of random “nano-workouts” throughout the day. I have a pull-up bar with rings next to my desk and also through in misc core workouts throughout the day. Coupled with frequent stretching, it has significantly helped my health/fitness imo. Oh, and controlling my mouth helps a lot.

Snack refers specifically to food, not just a small portion of anything. The activities are meant to offset the effects of excessive food by exacerbated by persistent sitting. Therefore, it's confusing to refer to it as a "snack".

>and imo not misleading at all.

I never said misleading. I said confusing. Those two things are not necessarily synonymous.

“Effects of excessive food”? What you saying bro? The article does not mention people’s weight or level of food consumption as a factor at all.

> The article does not mention people’s weight or level of food consumption as a factor at all.

Holy crap, read the damn article. It's literally about the effects of intermittent exercise on controlling skeletal muscle uptake of amino acids from food and discussion of how it influences blood sugar levels and insulin response with respect to diet. The entire basis of this field of study is on how prolonged sitting causes metabolic disruptions, exacerbated by excessive food intake.

Do you have access to the full article? Because the linked abstract do not mention diet at all and it only mentions muscle mass, not blood sugar levels, insulin resistance etc. I am just a casual reader of r/science bro, not an expert on whatever this field of study is. I am just going by the linked abstract.

I was talking about depth.