Here’s another reason not to sit all day: Getting up from your desk for a few minutes at a time throughout the day may boost your mood and energy levels, a small new study suggests. The study involved 30 healthy adults who were typically not very active during the day. For the study, they visited a health center three times, with each visit one week apart. At one visit, the participants sat for a full six hours, and were only allowed to get up for bathroom breaks. At another visit, the participants exercised for 30 minutes on a treadmill in the morning, before sitting for the rest of the 6-hour period. And at another visit, the participants sat for most of the day but got up every hour for a short bout of activity (5 minutes of walking on a treadmill), for a total of 30 minutes of exercise over the course of the day.

They were also asked about their energy levels, mood and food cravings at several points during the day. The participants said they had more energy both on the day they exercised for 30 minutes in the morning and on the day they engaged in short bouts of activity throughout the day, compared with the day they sat for the whole day, the study found. In addition, when the participants engaged in short bouts of activity throughout the day, they reported a better mood and lower levels of fatigue and food cravings at the end of the day, compared to when they exercised only in the morning and when they sat all day. In general, although both the morning exercise and short bouts of activity tended to boost energy levels and put people in a better mood, the effects of the morning exercises faded steadily over the day, whereas the effects of the short bouts of exercise lasted longer. The researchers also tested the participants’ cognitive performance — that is, their attention levels and ability to process information — but there were no differences in performance between the exercise days and the sedentary day.

The study was funded in part by Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions, which develops products that focus on wellness and prevention, such as digital health coaching, for consumers and businesses.