Three minutesat the sink

Why it still matters

A body that stays in one shape for hours starts to ache in that shape. Hips tighten from sitting, the neck locks from looking down, the lower back complains about the chair by the bed. Three minutes of moving the main joints through their range, a few times a day, keeps the aches from setting. It is not exercise in the gym sense. It is maintenance.

It also changes your head. Standing up and moving, even in a small space, clears the fog that settles in a long still afternoon.

At the sink

The kitchen sink is good because you are there anyway, several times a day, and there is a counter to hold.

• Hold the counter and rise onto your toes, then lower slowly. Ten times.
• Keep holding and sink into a shallow squat, knees over toes, as far as is comfortable. Up again. Ten times, or five.
• Let go. Roll your shoulders backwards in big slow circles, five, then forwards, five.
• Turn your head slowly to look over one shoulder, then the other. Three each way, no forcing.
• Reach both arms up as high as they go and stretch, then let them fall. Twice.
• March on the spot, knees lifting, for thirty seconds, or until the kettle clicks.

That is it. Three minutes, no equipment, nobody watching.

In the chair

If you cannot stand for long, sit tall on the front of the chair with your feet flat. Lift one knee, then the other, twenty times. Straighten one leg out in front, hold for three, lower. Both legs. Circle your ankles. Shrug your shoulders up to your ears and let them drop. Reach up. Breathe out.

How often

Every time you boil the kettle is a good rhythm. Or every time you come out of the room. Three or four times a day beats one long session, because the point is to interrupt the stillness, not to work up a sweat.

Go gently. Moving should feel like relief, not strain. If something hurts, do less of it or leave it out. Nothing here needs to be pushed.

Back to the walk

When the day allows, take the walk. This is for the days it does not. Both are the practice. Both are better than the chair.