If you WFH or have sedentary job - would you find this useful? (honest thoughts pls)

[sittingtoomuch]

Hiya – I’d really appreciate some honest views on an app idea.

During Covid, when I was WFH much more, I realised I was sitting for very long stretches. With all the talk about sitting being “the new smoking”, I started thinking how useful it would be to have something that simply reminds you to stand up and move a bit during the day.

As I went further down the research rabbit hole, I was genuinely surprised by the science around very short bursts of activity – aka “exercise snacks” – things like 1-2 minutes of more vigorous movement, which seem to improve health markers across the board and potentially support health and quality of life later on.

This really struck a chord with me personally, as my dad died suddenly at 60, largely because he didn’t look after his own health (ironically, he was a GP).

So the idea I’m working on is an app aimed at people with sedentary jobs or who work from home (or who care about your future health). It gives gentle nudges during the day for:

short bursts of vigorous exercise (e.g. jumping jacks, squats)
mobility and strength moves (e.g. wall sits, planks)
breathing exercises (e.g. box breathing)
mindful moments (e.g. a short nature break or pause)

Everything is backed by science/research, and you choose how long the movements last (30 seconds to 2 minutes), which ones you do, and how often you’re prompted. You can snooze if you’re busy, and there’s light encouragement like streaks rather than pressure.

My genuine questions are:
is this something you’d find useful?
would you ever pay a small monthly amount if you felt it genuinely helped your future health?

Just trying to work out whether this is actually useful or a nice idea that wouldn’t get used in real life 🤔

Just checked - Fitbit Premium does this for £80 a year. You input your goals, etc, and it makes up routines for you. I didn't check any further coz I'd forget to cancel the free trial, but think I remember it being really flexible when I had Premium.

I am a chronically ill sofa squasher, doing very well if I walk 1,000 steps, so no longer target market. I much prefer getting this sort of nudge on my wrist than the phone, though.

Ideally you'd be able to make your app work with all the different wearables. No clue what they'd charge you.

Or 😈 Put it in a cute portable, like a Tamagotchi!

Smart watches already do this.

I think it’s a good idea, but it’s not something i’d pay a monthly subscription for.

Honestly, the last thing I want to do when I get up from working in a screen is look at an app.

plus Apple Watches already nudge you to stand up

During some kind of wellbeing initiative at work, I installed an app on my laptop which sent me reminders to move, drink water etc. As I remember, you could customize it with how often and what time of reminders it sent. I lasted about a day before I turned it off! Really not helpful, and actually extremely annoying, when I'm stuck on a two hour call to be reminded that I need to move. If there was an app that told me to do jumping jacks when all I want is 5 mins to have a wee and grab a coffee, I think I might actually throw my phone out the window!

My watch tells me to stand up... which is annoying on long haul flights.

I WFH and will get up during the day and do a few roll downs, push ups, sit ups. Sometimes I just lay on the floor for a bit doing box breathing.

Yes - but I suspect what I’d be willing to pay isn’t realistic for what someone would be looking to charge to make it a realistic endeavour.

I’d see a value in outsourcing the thinking bit, but only for less than £4.99 for an app one-off, or <£1 quarterly charge. I’d also want it to be configurable on when to prompt / not prompt and to give small space / low impact options. Something that prompted 12 hours a day woukd annoy me too fast. Something that didn’t let you snooze for the next x hours would get to background irritation level really fast and I’d ignore really quickly. Something with a nice positive reinforcement ‘Youre on a roll with ….’ You've done X this week’. Woukd keep me engaged for longer.

Or to put it another way, something a bit like Swueezy.

You've invented an app that already exists.

This wouldn't be something I'd use - free or paid for - for a number of reasons.

If I'm working on something and it's going well and I'm having a good creative run at it, I am absolutely not going to break that to do some exercise or some deep breathing because an app tells me to. I'd just find it to be an annoying interruption. I just feel like I can decide for myself when I take my breaks and what I do when I take them.

Also, any exercise I'd consider to be worth doing is the sort of exercise I'd need to get changed for - for example, I wouldn't be doing jumping jacks or anything high impact without a sports bra and trainers and I'd feel hot and sweaty.

In general, I find anything 'motivational' where you get told to do something for your own good, quite annoying. I'd just feel like I was being patronised.

OP, there are literally dozens of similar apps in existence already. I looked at several of them when I was considering how to tackle this issue. In the end they didn't seem worth the subscription. I just do 2 mins exercise every time i wait for the kettle to boil, or 30 seconds of jacks reheating my cold coffee in the microwave, or a few minutes of weights at night during ad breaks and 30 squats each time I clean my teeth.

The truth is that micro-exercising is easy. It's taking it up to the next stage and building in time for proper workouts that takes a bit of discipline.

Fit bit buzzes each hour to encourage certain amount of movement

No, I wouldn't find it useful and no, I wouldn't pay for it. These sorts of apps already exist for those interested.

I’m struggling to see who would realistically be able to use this. All smart watches tell you to move every hour, and you could easily set a reminder to do a certain exercise. But, who really has a job where this would work?

It would have to have access to your work meeting calendar (and I’m not sure any company would have lax enough security standards to allow third party app access), otherwise it would be pointless. You can’t go doing star jumps in the middle of a meeting, and many wouldn’t like that reminder if they were in the middle of something complex. I work from home and wouldn’t be able to do this, my calendar changes daily.

It IS useful, because it already exists, sorry @sittingtoomuch.
There are various devices, phone, numerous apps on phone, Fitbit, computer etc etc that already do this.

FWIW, the reason i didn't bother with the apps, is that they were such a faff. If one had been a one off payment that then had a simple timer which buzzed and led me to 2 or 5 mins of pre-selected exercise, I would have bought it. But they were so laborious - height and weight and blood pressure and so many ads built in. It felt like in the time I'd waded through all the padding to get to the actual exercise plan, I could have done 50 burpees and been back at my desk.

If you want a USP, make it a one off payment, no subscriptions, no ads, and immediate access. Just press three buttons each day

1. how often do you want reminding?
2. how long should the exercise be?
3. what form: body weight, aerobic, yoga etc.

I'd pay for that.

Exactly. I’m imagining me training / teaching and it starts shouting at me.

short bursts of vigorous exercise (e.g. jumping jacks, squats)

Absolutely not. Suddenly bursting into bouts of vigorous exercise without being warmed up first is not a good idea. Asking for an injury, in fact.

I just put a daily reminder in my Outlook calendar to stand/move about and 'snooze' it hourly. Don't need yet another app just for that.

Hi, I really dislike smart watches and exercise apps like Strava (for various reasons) so I would give this a go.
I already set an alarm for micro-breaks in my working day (I do house jobs like dinner prep for 5 minutes) and I do 5-7 hours of exercise a week, but I like the idea of suggestions of 2 minute exercises regularly throughout the day.
As you say there is good science behind these kind of micro activities rather than one set hour a day
Regards paying, if it cost c.£5 a month I'd subscribe (especially if I could pause for a month if I was going on holiday). More than £10 and I'd probably not be interested
HTH

I would love it for a week then start to ignore the prompts then delete it. Sorry.

This whole thread is like an episode of Dragons Den where they point out the obvious flaws in a business plan and the person is like this:

I would definitely use this once I sort my storage issue 😊

like this

@GreenRedFlowers Not at all, this is all gold. I know Mumsnet isn’t always an easy crowd, and that’s kind of why I asked here. Similar things do exist, of course, and that at least tells me there’s some appetite… it’s the differences I’m trying to pressure test. The “no I wouldn’t” (and why) responses are actually really helpful for refining it. I really appreciate each and every one.
(Excellent use of Ross btw 👏🏼)

I thought research here had to be paid for?