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 🤔

No I hyper focus on certain tasks and I wouldn't want any disruptions. I often don't know when my brain will start to do that but I have to lean into it when it happens.

I also have a dog and he reminds me that he wants to go out/ go for a walk/ have lunch/ that there may be a squirrel outside or was it just a leaf.

thank you very much! That’s very kind.

If it's programmed to go off every hour but you're driving or in a meeting or focusing on a deadline, you're just going to get distracted or irritated by it.

What would your app do that a manually set reminder (for free) doesn't do?

My Apple Watch reminds me to stand up and tells me my step count etc so I don’t think I’d need another app to do it.

I know you were replying to a different poster but I would absolutely try it for free! I'd want my partner to give it a go, too.

I use Gloji which is a free app. That has a section on exercise snacks. It's easy to set a reminder on your phone or stick a post it note above the kettle to remind you. Soon becomes a habit.

I have a very sedentary job but couldn't be jumping about like that in the office unfortunately.

Honestly, no. My Apple Watch tells me to move once an hour and I ignore it if I’m busy!

I don't know. If it just an app you set to have a message on the screen or do an alarm saying 'do x amount star jumps now'. I can't see myself doing it.

2 of my work places installed ergonomic tables that rose up & down

Walk around, do chair exercises

I used to work 12 hour shifts

Exercise during lunch break

I did most of my exercise on my days off work

No I would not use an app

No. Just because people work from home doesn’t mean they can stop what they’re doing at random, or even set, points of the day to do exercise, even for a couple of minutes.

I think there’s a market for it, OP.

I find my Fitbit reminders really helpful, don’t personally want ideas for what to do at the moment, but I might get there. Especially if it could be tailored a bit to goals (e.g. improving flexibility or balance, or slowing bone density loss, etc.).

For me, I’d really want it to integrate into other apps I use (like Fitbit, apple health, Healthi).

With app success, marketing is critical, though. Do you have an active presence on in online fitness communities or anything?

Edited to add - calendar integration could be really handy. My Fitbit is a pain for reminding me while I’m driving. If I could block out time and it remind me during non blocked periods, that would be really handy, though if this is something for a laptop rather than a phone I guess it just pops up and then you deal with it when you’re free?

No, I would choose when to stretch according to how I'm feeling if I had a,sit down job I think. Xx

My watch tells me if I’ve not stood and moved in an hour (rare 🤣)

It cans old resorts active hours of exercise and steps etc so it already exists.

I also have the tech to set up hourly reminders if needed as most phones have calendars etc.

Bit tbh I’d like to sit and not move for a bit so I’m definitely not your target audience 🤣

Not really, I actually do seated exercises whilst I'm sat at my desk. Thick Chick on youtube does good exercise sessions that I follow. I also remember to take regular breaks anyway.

My Apple Watch tells me to stand up after an hour of sitting down and that’s my prompt to get up - make a coffee - move.. I got to the gym every day before I start work so that’s more than adequate. I see no value in an app telling me to do star jumps half way through my working day.

I wouldn't pay for it as there's already loads of free exercises online or YouTube etc

Maybe if people need an app to motivate themselves it might help but not for me.

As a couple of PPs have asked, how are you going to tell people about your app, OP? Have you got a marketing budget?

Building an app and marketing it takes tens of thousands of pounds. With no guarantee of success. What's your MVP?

I'm retired, and no longer have the pressure of work commitments. I have found that I'm becoming very sedentary, so a prod to move more would be welcome. I would seriously consider something that encourages me to move more. Cost would be an issue as I'm on a pension, also the suggested exercises would have to be achievable for a 72 year old.

@sittingtoomuch can you have some kind of cattle prod effect built in to make me actually get up and move?!

I and my colleagues have too much work to do and it requires concentration, I often have to put my watch/phone on DND thanks to endless notifications. I get the science of it, I’m just in the wrong job and I imagine a lot of people are. I exercise every morning, yoga after work, that’ll have to do.

Yep, I'd find it quite useful as I'm trying too remind myself that I need to unglue from laptop when wfh.

However, I'd also suggest looking at the physical activity part in terms of age/fitness range. If you tried to make me do jumping jacks/squats it'd be a turnoff whereas going up/down stairs a few times or using store cupboard cans for exercises would work. Also keep in mid that wfhomers won't always have masses of space so any suggestion's should factor in potential difference in floor/wall-space options for any suggested activities or give alternatives.

My watch tells me when it’s time to move. I ignore it.

Lots of apps do this. I seen an advert for a smart watch app to remind you to breath and what type of breathing you need to do depending on your heartbeat at the time.
I have one for medication, and stand ups too.

I don’t think it would take off, sorry.

My Apple Watch already does this for me so I wouldn’t find it useful.