5 Smart Ways to Sit Less During the Day When You Work From Home

If work has you stationed at a computer, chances are you spend several hours sitting, and unfortunately, your body probably feels it. Stiff hips, tight shoulders, and afternoon sluggishness add up over time, and prolonged sitting can lead to more severe health consequences like dead butt syndrome. Fortunately, you don’t need an elaborate workout routine or expensive gym equipment to counteract those long stretches in your chair.

We spoke with health and fitness experts who shared several small habits that you can incorporate into your workday to get you moving more. (Even tiny bursts of movement count!) Here’s why you need to make a point to get up, along with simple strategies to help you sit less from morning to evening.

Meet the Experts

• Jeremy Alland, MD, sports medicine physician at Midwest Orthopedics at Rush in Chicago
• Brian Murray, personal trainer, mobility expert, and founder of Motive Training in Austin

Why Sitting Too Long Is Bad for Your Health

Modern work setups make it far too easy to stay parked in a chair for hours, but the problem isn’t the sitting itself: “It’s staying in one position for hours,” says Brian Murray, a mobility expert and founder of Motive Training. “The body is built to move, and when we don’t, a few predictable things happen: Muscle activity drops off (especially in the hips, glutes, and spine), circulation slows, and metabolic processes start to downshift.”

Murray pointed to research that tied sitting too long with higher risks for cardiovascular disease, earlier mortality, and type 2 diabetes. “Even people who exercise regularly don’t fully offset these effects if most of their day is spent sedentary,” he says.

Jeremy Alland, MD, a sports medicine physician at Midwest Orthopedics at Rush, notes that these health risks begin to climb significantly when sitting time exceeds 8 to 10 hours per day. “Mechanistically, we know why this happens. Long, uninterrupted sitting impairs glucose metabolism, reduces insulin sensitivity, and triggers post-meal metabolic dysfunction, which are all key contributors to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease,” he says. Sitting also reduces blood flow and muscle activation, leading to inflammation and vascular dysfunction.

From a musculoskeletal perspective, Murray explains that prolonged static postures tend to bottleneck your range of motion. “Your joints stiffen. Your body becomes more efficient at ‘holding still’ and less capable of moving well.” Dr. Alland adds that this stiffness can become especially problematic when you do finally decide to exercise: “It can be hard to wake [your muscles] back up. Intermittent movement never allows them to go fully into ‘sleep mode,’” he says.

How to Sit Less Throughout the Day

To encourage more movement, the experts we spoke to said it’s best to focus on strategies that play into your natural tendencies, so movement feels less forced. Here’s what they recommend to get you on your feet.

Use Transitions as Movement Cues

Instead of trying to overhaul your schedule, start by weaving short bursts of movement into your existing routine. “Any time you shift tasks, like ending a meeting or starting a new project, use that transition to stand up or take a few steps,” says Murray. “You’re already switching mental tasks, so pairing that with a physical reset feels natural and doesn’t disrupt workflow.”

Dr. Alland says this method is similar to habit stacking, and suggests taking those extra steps a little further: “The end of every video call means you need to walk to another room and stretch for 60 seconds. After each long email, do 10 calf raises or 10 air squats.” This turns natural movement into a regular part of your workflow and exercise routine.

Schedule Actual Breaks

If you wait for the “perfect moment” to move, standing up will most likely take a back seat to more pressing tasks. So schedule your movement daily. “Half of my job is working with the C-suite; sometimes, the only way to get movement is to block it off on the calendar,” says Murray. “Put in 15-minute breaks wherever you can, and use that time for stretching, mobility practices, yoga, walking, or anything that helps you get out of a sitting or standing posture.”

Make Your Office Less Convenient

Small environment tweaks—that will seem inconvenient at first—can prompt more natural movement throughout the day. “Move your printer, water, snacks, or even your trash can to a short walk away,” Murray says. “These micro-walks add up and help break long periods of stillness without interrupting productivity.” Another simple tweak is storing your most-used supplies, like notebooks or charging cables, across the room, so getting them instinctively gets you out of the chair.

Change the Location of Certain Tasks

After you change the setup of your office, then change where and how you do certain tasks. “As a sports medicine physician, I remind patients all the time: Our bodies were built for movement, not for sitting in one position for hours. Motion is lotion!” says Dr. Alland. “A standing desk is often our first thought, but standing still for long periods of time is also not ideal, and it isn’t your only option.” Instead, he suggests any of the following alternatives:

• Take phone calls while pacing or walking.
• Move locations for each video meeting. (Dr. Alland notes that a change of scenery is stimulating.)
• Spread out work over a large workspace, like a kitchen table, so that you must move around it to complete tasks.

Drink More Water

How does drinking more water make you sit less? “I tell people the more you drink, the more you have to use the bathroom,” says Dr. Alland. “And don’t use the convenient bathroom, use one that is further away for more movement.” The bonus is that you’ll be more hydrated, which is a great two-for-one!

Read the original article on Real Simple