Four tips to increase your activity throughout the day

Set a reminder on your phone for every hour and spend five minutes walking and stretching whenever the alert goes off. Stand up on your commute. I know this may sound like a horrible idea but it’s a really simple way to activate all the muscles that have been inactive all day. Sitting down on the train is a habit at the moment, so you should be able to make standing up a habit instead. Take the stairs, not the escalator or lift. When it comes to physical activity on a day to day basis, always try and challenge yourself. Don’t take the easy option. Take your trainers into work. On the way home, get off 1 or 2 stops early and walk/run the rest of the way. This is an effective way of increasing activity without having to make time to go to the gym.

Those four little tricks will help to get you moving — but if you really want to counteract the ill effects of sitting down, I’d suggest adding stretches to your day. Sitting is a static, passive action that actively inhibits your range of movement. In the video (telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/ body/do-sit-day-six-stretches-needstop-body-seizing), I’ve demonstrated six stretches that will help to balance out the restrictive sitting position you adopt while at a computer. The stretches open your chest, strengthen your back, and reinforce your core, so you will maintain your range of movement and stand tall when you do get up from the chair.

I recommend doing them three times per day — as soon as you wake up, during your lunch break and right before bed.

Now, that may seem a bit excessive, but I beg to differ. Your joints and muscles work on a “use it or lose it basis” — as soon as you stop moving in certain ways you will lose those movements. You may not notice this happening, but over long periods of time (sitting at a desk for your entire working life) it can end up being seriously debilitating.

Following these simple steps over time can have a profound effect on your overall flexibility, mobility and quality of life. Small changes over time reap long lasting benefits.