We can talk all day about the negative impacts of sitting at a desk for your heart and your body, but sitting for at least 8 hours every day is a fact of life for most working people.

There are options, of course, like begging your boss to spring for that stand-up desk made out of reclaimed wood. If your boss says, “no” to that totally reasonable request, you can DIY it with reams of paper and cardboard boxes or get crafty and spend about $46 making your own. Be sure to document all of that for Pinterest.

A good standing desk should be the right height for your body.

No standing desk? It’s been found that just standing up 30 times per day can help stop the negative impacts of sitting all day.

You can build the perfect stand-up desk, but you may still have back-to-back meetings or a calendar that can only be described as disgusting. And sometimes clients like to sit during two-hour working lunches. It’s kind of a business foul if you’re just standing there by yourself.

Sitting for any extended period of time puts your hip flexors, shoulders, back and neck into angles of flexion and extension that throw your body out of whack. Devote 10 minutes (:60/stretch) every day to stretching your body and you’ll sleep better, move better and even sit better.

Try this 10-minute stretching series. Ten minutes of stretching? That can replace that time in your day during which you fall down the rabbit hole that is the Internet by accidentally clicking on just one article with a title like, “See why this Kardashian is never invited back to the White House again.” [disclaimer: not a real article]

 

Seated neck stretch:

Shoulder stretch:

 

Spinal twist:

 

Figure 4 stretch:

 

Hip flexor stretch