Breaking up a day spent sitting
A writing day can include movement through short breaks, ordinary tasks and workstations that allow changes of position. Practical arrangements make standing or walking easier to fit around the work.
Movement throughout the day
A 2020 lifestyle-medicine webinar estimated that people in the Western world sat for around nine or more hours daily, while moderate activity averaged less than an hour and was not enough to counter the sedentary pattern. It linked sedentary behaviour with metabolic and cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and some cancers, and recommended replacing some sitting with light physical activity. A 2014 session reviewing the sitting literature similarly noted that prolonged sedentary work could remain harmful even for people active outside working hours. A 2013 discussion cited associations between prolonged sitting and diabetes, cardiovascular disease and earlier death from all causes.
Ways to substitute movement include walking or cycling to work, taking stairs, exercising at lunch, walking during calls and standing to read or work. Standing can engage muscles that sitting does not, and a shelf or high table can provide an improvised standing workspace. Indoor bodyweight exercises such as squats, push-ups, sit-ups and planks offer options when outdoor activity is difficult.
The 2020 webinar suggested working for an hour, then doing a few squats and planks before returning to work, describing these bursts as refreshing and useful for maintaining strength. Some writers in a 2013 discussion instead described setting aside five or ten minutes each hour for stretching, stairs, a hula hoop or a short outdoor walk. A 2018 wellness session recommended one break each hour, preferably around five minutes, with a walk replacing a coffee break. Its presenter cited a study linking standing or walking for at least one minute during work with a difference in waist circumference, while recommending breaks closer to five minutes. The presenter also linked sitting with reduced brain blood flow, focus and creativity and greater effort to produce accurate work. The same session encouraged focusing on an enjoyable walk rather than merely completing a health task or pursuing weight loss, because enjoyment could encourage repetition.
The 2020 webinar also emphasised posture because the body becomes accustomed to its most frequent positions. A 2016 session urged editors to treat regular exercise and relaxation breaks as mandatory self-care.
Building movement into ordinary tasks
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, includes ordinary activity such as parking farther away, taking stairs and standing during calls. The 2014 session report attributed an estimate of an additional 1,500–2,000 calories daily through such activity to James Levine’s 2009 account of NEAT.
Ordinary tasks can create reasons to move: placing the workspace farther from the kitchen or bathroom, locating the printer in another room, keeping frequently used books high enough to require standing and moving the wastebasket away from the desk. A headset permits standing or walking during conference calls, while a timer can prompt standing and stretching.
A freelancer writing in 2015 described losing her commute, struggling to take daily walks and considering a standing desk after hearing favourable experiences from other users.
Movement reminders
In a 2012 account, the free Mac application Time Out allowed configurable micro-breaks and longer breaks, obscuring the screen during a break but allowing the writer to postpone or skip it. The reviewer’s examples were twenty seconds every twenty minutes to look away from the screen and a few minutes every hour or two to move around.
Activity monitors described in 2013 used accelerometers in bracelets, armbands or clip-on devices, with feedback through computer, phone or tablet applications on steps, distance, calories and sleep. They were suggested as prompts to take movement breaks, with prices then typically around $100–$200.
Standing and walking workstations
Alternating between sitting and standing can introduce movement, but prolonged standing can tire the legs and feet; an antifatigue mat may help. A setup that avoids moving the computer each time makes position changes easier to use. Options described by writers in 2013 included back-to-back desks with wireless peripherals and a movable monitor arm, a second mirroring monitor, a fixed standing desk with a tall stool, or an easily height-adjustable desk.
Writers with treadmill-desk experience advised starting with reading, simple typing and calls, which are easier than precise mouse work, and walking slowly at around one to two miles an hour while alternating with sitting. A station could combine a used treadmill with a standing desk or attached platform, or use a purpose-built combination; complete stations cost several hundred to a few thousand dollars in the 2013 account.
Four questions guide a treadmill-desk setup.
- Will it fit? A smaller treadmill without arms can fit under a desk; an incline is unnecessary when the aim is continuous slow walking rather than aerobic exercise.
- How does it integrate with the computer? A desk should hold the usual tools comfortably and avoid moving the setup during the day; treadmill desks may adjust mechanically or electrically.
- How will sitting work? Ordinary chairs may be too wide or damage the belt, so the manufacturer’s requirements matter; options include a matching chair or, in one user’s arrangement, a balance ball on a protective yoga mat.
- How noisy is it? Quiet operation matters during calls, and some manufacturers provide decibel levels at different speeds.
Other equipment suggested at the 2014 session included standing, treadmill or recumbent-bicycle desks and these movement aids.
- Apps such as Fitbit, Jawbone, Healthier and Time Out.
- Free weights.
- Resistance bands.
- Ankle weights.
- A balance ball.
- A wobble board.
- A BOSU balance trainer.
- A punching bag.
Stretches during a break
A yoga instructor demonstrated these desk-compatible stretches to writers in 2014.
- Spine: standing or seated spinal rolls, a side stretch and a spinal twist.
- Shoulders: a stress-buster movement, raising the shoulders and making a fist on inhalation, then squeezing the shoulder blades together and relaxing on exhalation; and shoulder circles.
- Wrists: rotations, gently pressing each finger against the desk, and interlacing the fingers before stretching them in opposite directions.
- Neck: a side stretch, rotation and circles.