Second only to sleep is your health (and that’s a close contest anyway) coming in at number 2 on our list of healthy habits. There are a couple of areas we will look at for health in these tips, exercise being just one of them. Later on, we’ll pick up diet, sunlight, meditation—the works.

So yes, everyone knows they should go to the gym. Nothing new there. But for those of us that simply can’t seem to get there, we do have some suggestions for you.

Many of us work in front of the computer today, so for exercise tips I want to get you moving as often as I can while not disrupting your workflow. There are 6 healthy habits off the top of my head that can get you into the swing of things to exercise when you think you can’t. Seven, if you count the age-old adage of taking the stairs!

• Migrate yourself to a standing desk if you can.

  It worked for Hemingway! If your boss can’t afford to buy you one simply get an external keyboard and prop the monitor up higher. In case you didn’t get the memo: Sitting is the new smoking. A standing desk gets the blood flowing.Also, here’s a cool tip for those of you who work from home. Place river rocks in a box and stand on them in your bare feet. It’s great for circulation and proprioception (that’s a fancy term for your body using muscles to keep you stable). In the winter, you can heat those rocks in a crock pot (or maybe a microwave though I didn’t test that one) to warm yourself from the feet, up. It’s called thermal regulation and it is the main reason natives were so well-adapted to the highs and lows of nature temperatures (the bare feet, not the crock pot).

• If the desk is out, you can still get some proprioception action with a giant ball!

  (How many times do you get to say that sentence?) The idea is that you sit on one of those giant yoga/exercise balls and that will improve your posture as well as tightening your core. Plus, it’s more fun to dance on when your favorite jam comes over the radio.If for some reason your boss won’t allow either of those things, simply move around as much as you can. One way is to use the Pomodoro technique and this will help you in many ways.

  In a nutshell, you take a break every 20 minutes. During the 20 you work on just one task.

  After the 20 (in your break time) you walk around and stretch for a few minutes. It also eases the strain on your eyes because you go from focusing up close to things far away (and not on a glare-filled screen, for that matter).The time you spend walking around not only refreshes your body it refreshes your mind as well because it allows your subconscious to take over on a task while you are strolling and sometimes that’s all you need for a breakthrough. It’s also physically healthier, obviously.

• If for some reason taking a break is also out of the question (and no it doesn’t mean you should quit your job), then you can still do exercises right at your desk while you are working—even if you are sitting down in a boring chair and not a bouncy ball.

  These would be things like isometric exercises, posture-strengtheners, and chair yoga. They work like this. Sit up straight. Bring your shoulders back. Drop your shoulders and relax them (while still keeping them back). Tighten your core. Now relax your core. That’s one you can do and no one will even know.

• You can tighten your calves under your desk or use a half-wheel calf-flexing device. You can do toe raises while seated. You can do grip exercises while on the phone. You can practice belly breathing (that’s a HUGE ONE). No one has to know. It can be between you and your doctor.

• Now if for some reason this is ALL out of the question for you, you always have your TV time. If work is a no-go, do it at home when you are sitting in front of the TV. If your family thinks it is too distracting, do it during a commercial or head off to your room during a commercial just to handle it in private.

The point I am making is that healthy habits like this one can be done using only the time you have each day and it doesn’t have to cut into anything else you have going on. Get more fit on your own time! Once you have gone beyond the basics, take a walk around the block at lunchtime. Or go for a run or hit those stairs. All in good health, all in good time.