The solution to physical inactivity is often to simply ‘exercise more’. This seems simple, as it is relatively known that exercise can help reduce feelings of stress. Yet simply knowing this fact is not making it any easier for people to actually get up and move. A research study done by Trevor J. Buhr and his colleagues suggest why this might happen: stress can have lasting effects on the brain and body that influence motivation towards physical activity, which creates a barrier even when someone stressed knows movement could be beneficial. Usually, ‘exercising more’ means committing to a structured workout plan, which is a significant time investment. But what if movement did not require such a large commitment? What if, instead of erasing the effects of stress, we instead structured physical activity in a way that makes it more manageable?
We can thank Buhr for validating our lazy tendencies, as he says that participating in physical activity isn’t always simply a willpower problem. In his first experiment, Buhr exposed rats to stress by administering shocks to their tails and then gave them access to running wheels for nine weeks. The rats who received the shocks had a lower tendency to run on the wheels compared to the rats who were not exposed to the stress. In his second experiment, Buhr looked at the rats’ brains and muscles after stress exposure. The team found changes in dopamine and serotonin activity in several brain regions involved in reward processing, as well as changes in the amounts of muscle proteins associated with oxidative stress. These findings suggest that stress produces a long-lasting response on the molecular level which may interfere with physical activity, which is deeper than assuming physical activity is due to a lack of willpower. Because these studies were conducted in rats, though, we cannot assume that the same processes happen in humans. Still, it is interesting to think about how telling someone to work out when they are already stressed is not addressing (and will likely not solve) the problem of why they are not working out in the first place.
This is where the concept of ‘movement snacks’ from a TIME article provides an interesting alternative. In a study led by Keith M. Diaz, the effects of short periods of walking during a prolonged period of sitting were investigated. Adults spent either hours sitting in a lab on five separate days, with some getting to take walking breaks throughout the day and some having to remain seated. For the walking group, they compared many different timing intervals: one minute walking every thirty minutes sitting, one minute per hour, five minutes every thirty minutes, and five minutes every hour. The researchers measured the participants blood pressure, blood sugar, mood, and cognitive performance. It was found that walking for five minutes for every thirty minute period of sitting was the most effective, and reduced blood pressure and blood sugar spikes after a meal by 58% compared with those sitting all day. Walking was also shown to boost mood and decrease fatigue, although it did not have a meaningful effect on cognitive performance. These findings suggest that even brief periods of movement can offer meaningful benefits.
Instead of having one prolonged period of exercise per day, movement snacks involve many short periods of movement across the course of the day. It is important to note, however, that movement snacks do not eliminate effects of stress on the brain and body proposed by Buhr. It is when the two studies are looked at together that creates an interesting possibility: we can change our tendency for physical activity not by making us more motivated, but by making physical activity something that requires less motivation. Movement snacks can be seen as working around a barrier instead of eliminating the barrier itself.
Works Cited:
Buhr TJ, Reed CH, Wee OM, Lee JH, Yuan L-L, Fleshner M, Valentine RJ and Clark PJ (2023) The persistence of stress-induced physical inactivity in rats: an investigation of central monoamine neurotransmitters and skeletal muscle oxidative stress. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 17:1169151. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1169151
Diaz KM, Murdock ME, Serafini MA, et alEvaluating movement breaks as a public health strategy to mitigate the harms of prolonged sitting: a large-scale pragmatic interventionBritish Journal of Sports Medicine 2026;60:1208-1217.
Haupt, A. (2026, July 14). A 5-Minute “Movement snack” will give you more energy. TIME. https://time.com/article/2026/07/14/how-often-should-you-get-up-from-your-desk-movement-snack/
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