StandSched

Office work is all too common nowadays, which translates to a sedentary lifestyle for most. Sitting on a chair for the better part of the day has some drawbacks, most of which can be detrimental to your overall body health in the long term.

While some users do their best to avoid the pitfalls of a sedentary lifestyle, others need just a little nudge in the right direction. If that nudge can come from a software application on your computer, then all the better: StandSched is a simple app that will remind you to take a break every now and then. After all, taking care of yourself is the most important work, even if you don’t get paid for it.

The program operates in a very simple manner. Working with it isn’t much work at all, as the interface displays all you need on the main window: your StandSched schedule, as well as your settings.

Set when your work schedule is, and the program will work to accommodate it based on your preferences. If you work from Monday to Friday, tick those boxes, then remember to also modify the time you start and end your shift if it’s something other than 9 to 5.

After that, it’s time to consider the minutes between alerts. They’re in 15-minute increments, from 15 to 60 minutes, so try to select something that works best for you.

The software will notify you when it’s time to sit up and move around a little. By default, it will also play a notification sound, which can be modified to anything else, or turned off entirely.

A text will appear — this too can be modified to your liking. Optionally, you may choose to have the app automatically start on system bootup, which can be quite useful when used on a work laptop, for instance.

StandSched is a simple piece of software that functions just as advertised: though a little basic, it works well enough to notify you when to take a break from the computer.