How to overcome an addiction to sitting?

[Ella]

I sit most hours of the day. I realize that this is likely the main cause of my poor circulation, back pain, neck pain, and issues with shallow breathing. I not only need to correct my sitting posture but sit much less. To give you an idea of just how much I sit every day... I am awake around 7:30AM each morning and I sit at my computer at about 8AM. Outside of standing to go to the bathroom, cook food, feed my pets, or shower... I am sitting. I clean the house 2 or 3 days a week and wash the leftover dishes every 3 or 4 days, the rest are put in the dishwasher. I am in bed from about 11PM until 7:30AM most days... That is  8.5 hours of lying down. I probably sit 95% of the hours I am awake. 

I need to change this. How can I overcome my addiction to sitting? 

[James]

Do you have a fitness watch that reminds you to get up and move every now and then? That is how I deal with sitting. I sit a lot too after I am done with my daily workout. My Garmin watch though reminds me to get up and move and stretch ever hour or so and I do that to break up all the sitting. 

Also standing desks are great. I have one in my office and it is nice to be able to stand from time to time. At one point I was thinking of getting an under the desk treadmill so I could walk and work at the same time. Just didn't want to do that bad enough to execute on it. 

Sitting has been proven to be more dangerous then smoking in a few studies but it does not get much attention. Likely because corporate America wants us sitting and grinding out work. 

[Mila]

Maybe try sitting on a stability ball for starts? I heard this is a good balance between sitting and keeping your core engaged. It is like you are cheating your body because it feels you are exercising. Another option would be to use your standard chair and get a desktop app on your computer to remind you to stand each hour. I know there are plenty of options when it comes to those, I used to use one to remind me to drink water. 

[Emma]

Find hobbies that get you moving more. Even if it is just as simple as going from a standing to sitting position over and over again. Once you get your body more used to moving, you will begin to feel uncomfortable sitting still for too long. This can take time though so don't rush it or feel like it isn't helping, it will make a difference over time. 

[EagleEye]

I use an app on my Computer called Time out. I configure it to ask me to take quick 30 second stretches every 30 minutes. And then a 5 minute break every 2 hours.

Since I spend most of the time on my computer this works great.