Sit-stand desk schedule planner

How to use the planner

1. Enter when your working day starts and finishes. An end time earlier than the start is treated as the next morning, for night shifts.
2. Pick a pattern, or type your own minutes for sitting, standing and moving. Set any part to 0 to leave it out.
3. Choose whether to start the day sitting or standing, and when lunch is. Choose "No lunch break" for a short day.
4. Read off the schedule, or print it and keep it by your desk. The totals show how the day divides up.

How the schedule is worked out

The planner repeats the pattern from your start time, in the order sit, stand, move (or stand, sit, move if you start standing), until the end of the day. Two details matter:

• Lunch pauses the pattern. Whatever you were doing when lunch starts is cut short, and after lunch the pattern resumes where it left off. That keeps the day's proportions close to the pattern's own.
• The last block is cut at the end of the day. If the day does not divide into whole cycles, the final part is shorter than the pattern says.

The totals are simply the minutes in each position added up; the percentages are of working time, with lunch left out. "Position changes" counts each switch between sitting, standing and moving.

Worked example

With the defaults (9:00 to 17:00, the 20-8-2 pattern, starting seated and lunch from 12:30 to 13:00), the morning runs seven complete half-hour cycles: sit 9:00–9:20, stand 9:20–9:28, move 9:28–9:30, and so on until lunch at 12:30. The afternoon fits eight more cycles from 13:00 to 17:00. Across the day that is 5 h sitting, 2 h standing and 30 min moving, out of 7 h 30 min of working time in a 8 h day, which matches the pattern's 20 : 8 : 2 exactly because both halves of the day divide into whole cycles.

Common patterns

The patterns disagree, and that is honest: there is no single ratio that research has shown to be best for everyone. What the common advice agrees on is less precise but more useful. Change position regularly, do not swap hours of sitting for hours of standing still, and fit some movement into every hour or so. Pick a pattern you will actually follow, and adjust it after a week.

Tips for the standing periods

• Adjust the desk each time you switch, so that your elbows are at roughly a right angle when typing and your shoulders are relaxed.
• Shift your weight, and consider a footrest or an anti-fatigue mat if you stand for long.
• Supportive shoes make standing more comfortable than bare feet or slippers on a hard floor.
• Standing is a good moment for phone calls and reading; detailed mouse work is often easier seated.

Limits

The planner schedules time; it does not know your desk, your health or your work. It does not remind you when to switch: for that, keep the printed schedule in view, or use the interval timer with work set to your sitting time and rest set to your standing time. If you have a condition that affects standing, such as circulation problems, or you are pregnant, ask a doctor what suits you. The break planner does the same kind of planning for rest breaks across a shift.