You stand up for your health in doctor’s offices. You stand up for your health with insurance companies. You stand up for your health when choosing healthy food and daily exercise.

Now it’s time to stand up for your health, all day long.

Todays mini-mission is just as much for me as it is for you and people that you know that spend the majority of the day sitting. Now that I spend most of my work time writing, I sit more than ever. After re-reading an article by Corbett Barr about his standing up experiment, I decided it was time to implement this healthy habit.

You don’t need a special stand-up desk to stand up while working. Usually a counter top will do just fine. Create a space so you can work with your arms bent at about 90 degrees at the elbows. I stack my computer on a book and backgammon board on my kitchen counter. If you work in an office, and your boss or collegues don’t want you support you standing up for your health, let them know that:

Scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana analyzed the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over about 13 years, and found that people who sit for most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of heart attacks. 54%!

Before you know it, those co-workers who thought you were weird or annoying will be standing right next to you.

Start simple and stand for the first 5 or 10 minutes of every hour. Increase the amount of time you stand as you become more comfortable with it. While standing, you will naturally move around more than you do when you are sitting.

Standing may even increase your creativity and productivity. As Rob Rob Schwartz, chief creative officer of ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day LA suggests, “You get more done when you’re standing up,” Schwartz says. “When you’re sitting, you’re naturally recessive, you’re receiving, when you’re standing, you’re ready to do something.”

I now alternate standing and sitting about every hour. I also go for at least 1 walk during my work day to get outside, spend time with my dog and leave the computer. How much time do you spend sitting each day?

Reading Recommendations

• My Standing Desk Experiment
• The Most Dangerous Thing You’ll Do All Day
• Why a Stand-up Desk May Save Your Life