5 Easy Stretches You Can Do at Your Desk

Three minutes, no yoga mat, no Lycra. These five stretches reverse the most common damage of a long sitting day.

1. Slow neck rolls

Drop your chin to your chest. Slowly roll your head to one shoulder, back, then the other shoulder, then forward again. Three rolls each direction. The slower, the better. If you hear a few clicks, that is normal; sharp pain is not, so stop if it hurts.

2. Seated cat-cow

Sit forward in your chair, hands on knees. Inhale: arch your back, look up, chest out. Exhale: round your spine, tuck the chin, pull the belly in. Five slow cycles. This stretches the spine in both directions, which a chair never lets you do otherwise.

3. Shoulder blade squeezes

Sit up tall. Pull your shoulder blades down and back as if you were trying to hold a pencil between them. Hold for five seconds, release. Repeat eight times. This is the cheapest fix for the slow shoulder-forward drift that happens after lunch.

4. Wrist circles and finger fans

Extend your arms. Slowly circle your wrists ten times each direction. Then spread your fingers wide and make a fist, ten times. Typing all day shortens the same tendons over and over; this is the antidote.

5. Standing forward fold

Stand up. Soften your knees and slowly fold forward, letting your head and arms hang. Do not chase your toes; let gravity do the work. Hold for 30 seconds, breathing normally. Roll up one vertebra at a time. This one stretch decompresses everything the chair compressed.

How often: once mid-morning, once mid-afternoon. Set a calendar block if you have to. The version of you at 6 PM will be a noticeably less stiff person.