How often should you change position at a desk?
Variety first. Then get up. No schedule is a medical prescription.
There is no single scientifically established correct sit. Lab work has found that every static typing posture can become uncomfortable if you hold it. The useful habit is to change position, then to get up and move.
Sitwise’s defaults follow that split. After about 20 minutes in a matched sit — including a score of 100 — it can ask for a seated shift. After about 60 minutes of actual sitting, it asks you to stand and move for a few minutes. You can set the sit interval from 30 to 90 minutes.
A 2025 pragmatic trial of walking breaks in about 19,000 adults found that hourly breaks offered the best balance of feasibility and effect; the dose in that trial was five minutes of walking. Cornell’s CUergo notes that standing still is not enough — movement matters. UK HSE guidance for screen work favours short, frequent breaks that let you change posture, and it recognises break-reminder software.
WHO 2020 asks adults to limit sedentary time and replace it with activity of any intensity, and it declines to set a quantitative sedentary threshold. Sitwise therefore does not claim a health percentage for any schedule. It offers a reminder you control. Sources: BJSM 2025, Appl Ergon 2023, JOSPT 2019, Cornell CUergo, HSE DSE, WHO 2020.
Related: sitting reminder and posture app for Mac.
Sitwise is a Mac menu-bar posture coach and sitting reminder. It does not diagnose, treat, or prevent a medical condition. Join the launch list.