Movement snacks: small bursts of movement for desk workers

A movement snack is a short burst of movement, anything from twenty seconds to a few minutes, dropped into the gaps of a working day. A flight of stairs. Ten squats while the kettle boils. A lap of the floor between meetings. On their own they look like nothing. Spread across a day, they break up the long stretches of sitting that desk work is made of, and they add up to more movement than most people would guess.

They don't replace a proper walk or a workout. They fill the hours in between, which for most desk workers is where the problem is. Below is what counts, why it adds up, and a long list of ideas you can steal.

What counts as a movement snack

Pretty much anything that gets you out of the chair and moving on purpose. It helps to think of two kinds.

• Light snacks. Standing up, walking to the kitchen, a slow lap of the room, a few stretches. These mostly break up sitting. You won't break a sweat.
• Brisk snacks. Climbing a few flights of stairs at a good pace, a set of squats, a fast walk around the block. These get your heart going and leave you a little out of breath. Researchers sometimes call these "exercise snacks".

Both are useful. Light ones are easy to do many times a day. Brisk ones do a bit more for fitness, and a couple of them fit into a day that has no room for a gym.

Why small bits of movement add up

For a long time, exercise advice said activity only counted if it lasted at least 10 minutes at a time. That has changed. The World Health Organization's guidelines from 2020 say that any amount of physical activity is better than none, and they no longer set a minimum length for each bout. The US guidelines, updated in 2018, had already dropped the 10-minute rule. The message from both is the same: move more, sit less, and every bit counts.

A few other reasons the small stuff matters:

• It breaks up sitting. Health bodies now advise cutting down long periods of sitting, not just exercising more, and what sitting all day does explains why. Lab studies suggest that a few minutes of light walking every half hour or so can soften the rise in blood sugar after a meal, compared with sitting straight through.
• Brisk bursts can build fitness. Small studies of exercise snacks, such as climbing a few flights of stairs briskly three times a day, have found modest gains in fitness in people who weren't very active to begin with. The research is early, but it points the same way as everything else.
• It eases the stiffness. Hips, back and shoulders that stay in one position for hours tend to complain about it. Moving every so often is the simplest relief.
• It's easier to start. A five-minute habit is easy to keep. A plan to go to the gym at 7 AM is easy to drop.

None of this means a dozen squats a day is a fitness plan. The WHO still suggests adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity. Movement snacks are the layer underneath that: the part that keeps the rest of the day from being one long sit.

Ideas for working at home

Home is the easiest place for movement snacks, because nobody is watching.

• Kettle squats. Ten squats, or calf raises, while the kettle boils or the microwave runs.
• Use the far bathroom. If you have stairs, use the one upstairs.
• Carry things one at a time. Laundry, groceries, a mug back to the kitchen. More trips, more steps.
• One song. Put on one song and move to it. Dancing badly counts.
• Counter push-ups. Hands on the kitchen counter, body straight, ten slow push-ups while you wait for the toast.
• A lap outside. To the end of the street and back, around the garden, down to the mailbox.
• Do the chores standing. Water the plants, unload the dishwasher, take out the trash between tasks instead of saving them for later.
• Play. Five minutes throwing a ball for the dog or chasing a small person counts as a brisk snack.

Ideas for the office

The office has more built-in walking than home, if you use it.

• Stairs, not the elevator. Even for one floor. Walk up at a pace that gets you slightly out of breath, if your knees are happy with it.
• Visit instead of messaging. Walk to a colleague's desk for the quick question.
• The far kitchen. Refill your water at the kitchen farthest from your desk, and use a smaller glass so you go more often.
• A lap between meetings. One lap of the floor before you sit down for the next call.
• Bathroom on another floor. It adds two flights of stairs to something you were doing anyway.
• Calf raises while you wait. At the coffee machine or the printer.
• Walk out for lunch. Even if you bring it back to eat.

Ideas for the desk itself

Some days you can't leave the chair for long. These still count, as long as you don't rest your whole day on them.

• Sit to stand. Stand up from the chair and sit back down slowly, without using your hands if you can, ten times.
• Leg extensions. Straighten one leg under the desk, hold for a few seconds, lower it, switch.
• Ankle circles and heel raises. Good for calves that have been still all afternoon.
• Shoulder rolls and a big reach. Roll your shoulders back a few times, then reach both arms overhead and lean gently to each side.
• Stand for the next call. Especially an audio one, where you can pace.

How to make movement snacks stick

The problem with movement snacks is the same as with every small habit: they are easy to forget once you are absorbed in work. A few things help.

Attach them to things that already happen

The kettle, a file uploading, a meeting ending, a build running, sending an important email. Pick two or three moments that happen every day and give each one a fixed snack. "Kettle means squats" is easier to follow than "move more".

Keep them small

Small enough that skipping feels silly. Ten squats, one flight of stairs, one lap. You can always do more, and on bad days the small version still happens.

Don't count them

You don't need to log anything. If you want a rough sense of whether you're moving more, the Health app on your iPhone shows your steps by day and week when you carry the phone. Look at the weekly trend, not the daily number.

Let something tap you on the shoulder

When you're deep in work, an outside cue does what memory can't. In Notchpals that cue can come from Honk, one of the Movement characters: a goose with a plan, and the plan is chaos. Honk has three ways of getting you out of the chair, and each one is a ready-made slot for a snack.

• Stand up, after 55 minutes at the Mac in one go. A good moment for a brisk one: a flight of stairs, ten squats.
• Stretch, now and then through the day. Stretches come out of one daily allowance that the whole crew shares, so they turn up every so often rather than every few minutes. A good moment for the desk snacks above.
• Short walk, once a day between 1:30 and 3:30 PM. A good moment for the lap outside.

HonkStand up. Neck tall. Like a goose who just spotted a sandwich. Yes. That.

If you're mid-thought, Later sends Honk off for 20 minutes before it tries once more. Press Done when you've moved, and Honk is pleased in its own way.

HonkYes. Good. You moved. The plan is working. There is a plan. Don't ask.

Notchpals doesn't know whether you did the squats. Your Done is all it goes on.

Go easy, and check if you need to

Movement snacks are meant to be gentle. Start with light ones, go brisk when they feel easy, and skip anything that hurts. If you have a heart condition, joint problems or an injury, or you haven't been active for a long time, it's sensible to ask a doctor or a physiotherapist which kinds of movement suit you. For stretches with step-by-step instructions, see the two-minute desk stretches, and if your days at home have shrunk to the chair and the kitchen, there is more on adding movement back when you work from home.

Pick three snacks from the lists above, attach them to three things you already do every day, and try them for a week.