TIP: Set a reminder on your phone to move every hour.

This week I tried the ‘move every hour’ tip. My first thoughts were that it might not be feasible to move EVERY hour. It might feel like I was on the move all the time!

At the moment I’m spending a lot of time in the library in front of a computer, so for every hour I’m there I set an alarm to get up and have a little walk around.

That was all very well and good but it didn’t actually happen! Hours go by very quickly when you’re trying to write an assignment, as we all know! I found that getting up every hour interrupted my train of thought. I would be on a roll with my essay – making points left, right and centre – then BOOM… alarm! Nope soz not today 1pm alarm. So I didn’t manage to do every hour. But changed it to every other hour instead. This was mighty helpful.

What I would do is set an alarm for every other hour. When it went off I’d get up have a good old stretch – you know the ones were you have to go ‘eeee’- and a wander around. I’d go get a coffee or some water, and what I found is that it would bring some clarity back to my mind. Just like with using a bin/toilet further away, it was brain breathing space and allowed me to focus more.

When doing this tip at home I would do 5 star jumps or a couple of burpees, just to get the blood flowing. I highly recommend finding a song you can just lose it to (mine is Taylor Swift- Shake it off), have a good old dance and then carry on with your day. It gets you pumped and happy, which benefits everyone!

I think I’d continue with this tip as I’m spending a lot of time sat down at the moment. But generally I’m on the go quite a lot, so would perhaps tone it down a bit when I become more active in the future.

Eve Batts
PR, Media and Marketing
Year 2