I sit, you sit, we sit — at most of our jobs, after work and even on the weekends. There’s no doubt about it — much to the detriment of our muscle mass and general well-being, sedentary lifestyles are increasing and only becoming more common.

Now, research from the University of Toronto is offering one means of staving off complete muscular atrophy by way of snacks.

Unfortunately, they’re not the tasty kind. “Snacks” are how researchers are conceptualizing small, active breaks in between the sedentary lifestyles many of us have grown far too accustomed to.

Even something as small as two minutes of walking (how far away is the bathroom, again?) or body weight sit-to-stand squats, encourage the body to use more amino acids from meals to build muscle proteins, thus preserving both muscle mass and muscle quality.

Sitting for extended periods of time can weaken your body’s ability to filter sugar from your blood after a meal, according to the study.

Although long periods of inactivity are sometimes unavoidable, like bedrest after an injury, phases of low muscle activity tend to result in a loss of muscle mass that occurs in tandem with, or because of, our muscles’ inability to build new proteins even after we eat a meal that contains protein.

But this study indicated that even tiny periods of activity can also improve the efficiency of dietary amino acids used for muscle protein synthesis, or how our bodies repair or replace old or damaged proteins.

In short: A short walk — and a couple squats — are meaningful-but-manageable ways in which you can break up the Zoom meeting marathon or Netflix binging.