Years at a computer with my head pushed forward gave me osteochondrosis in my neck.

The doctor's advice was simple. Every 30-45 minutes:

Stand up and walk for a minute or two.

Slowly turn your head left and right.

Relax your shoulders, move your shoulder blades.

Look at something far away.

Not a workout. The point is to break up long sitting before the neck gets stiff.

I couldn't stick to it. Once I got into a task, 45 minutes turned into three hours.

Why timers didn't work for me

I tried break timers. They count wall-clock time and know nothing about what you're doing. You come back from the coffee machine, sit down, and five minutes later the timer tells you to stand up. Or you have to remember to reset it every time you leave the desk.

After a week I was dismissing the reminders without reading them.…