Did you know that sitting in a chair requires very little muscle activation? This isn’t great, as our bodies don’t cope well with little muscle activity.

Worse still, studies have found that prolonged sitting may contribute to our high rates of cardiometabolic diseases (which lead to heart attacks and stroke). A very good reason to get up and out of your chair.

If you are an office worker who sits at a desk for many hours of the day it is important that you find ways to move and encourage your muscles to be active. Give yourself a reason to get up and move.

And the process is really simple, set a few cues for getting out of your chair, move regularly for a short time, and activate those muscles.

To successfully get up and move around more often follow these simple rules that are easy to implement:

– Stand up before or after making or taking a phone call.
– Put your mobile phone out of reach…if you need to use it you need to stand to get it. Continue to stand while using your mobile.
– Stand up after completing a task.
– Drink more water, your health will benefit greatly and the bonus is you’ll need to walk to and from the bathroom more often.
– Drink from a glass instead of a water bottle. You’ll have to get up to refill it more often.
– Set a timer to remind yourself to stand up at regular intervals. This can link back to your mobile (which is out of reach)…set an alert every 20 – 30:00 minutes on your phone, when it goes off, get up and walk around for a few minutes.