Posture break timer
Set any interval you like, press start and leave the tab open. The preset intervals are organisational defaults, not a validated medical prescription, so choose the one that fits your work rather than the one that sounds healthiest. The timer counts down in the page and shows one movement prompt each time it reaches zero. The calculation runs in your browser and the tool's own code does not store and there is no account. Published guidance ranges from a break every 30 minutes to one every 2 hours, and 30 minutes is a reasonable place to start.
Timers are easy. Knowing what to do with the break, and being honest about how much a break schedule is worth, is the harder part. Both are below the tool.
Posture break timer
Pick an interval, press start and leave this tab open. The timer runs inside this page and shows one movement prompt each time it reaches zero. The calculation runs in your browser and the tool's own code does not store, and there is no account.
Press start, then work. When the countdown reaches zero this box shows one thing to do. Stand up for it, even when the prompt is short.
What the research on break frequency shows
This is the part most timer pages leave out. The evidence for scheduled breaks preventing discomfort is weaker than the advice implies, and the most useful trials tested active breaks specifically.
| Finding | Certainty | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Different break frequencies may make little or no difference to the intensity of musculoskeletal discomfort | Low to very low, nine studies, 626 workers | Cochrane, CD012886 |
| Additional work-breaks may reduce the intensity of back pain compared with no additional breaks | Very uncertain, one study | Cochrane, CD012886 |
| Active breaks with a change of posture had a positive effect on pain and discomfort | Moderate quality, 11 trials | Waongenngarm 2018 |
| Breaks had no detrimental effect on work productivity | Moderate quality | Waongenngarm 2018 |
| Sit-stand desks reduced sitting time in the first year of use | Low quality, 34 studies | Cochrane, CD010912 |
| Evidence was insufficient to show sit-stand desks reduce the intensity of low back or upper back symptoms | 10 studies, 955 workers | Cochrane, CD012487 |
Read together, three things follow. First, the schedule matters less than what you do with the break: breaks that involve standing and moving did better than passive ones. Second, the research base is small and the certainty is low, so nobody should be promised that a timer will prevent pain. Third, the intervention with the best evidence for changing behaviour is reducing sitting time, not adding a reminder.
How often, according to different national bodies
The published advice varies more than most articles admit, which is why the tool lets you choose from 20 minutes to two hours.
Compiled from the EU-OSHA report on prolonged static sitting at work, plus CCOHS and Cornell.
| Guidance | Interval recommended |
|---|---|
| Netherlands, Ministry of Social Affairs | Sit for a maximum of 2 hours, then take at least 10 minutes away from sitting. Maximum 5 hours of sitting in a working day |
| Belgian Ergonomics Society | Stand for 10 minutes after every 30 minutes |
| BeUpstanding, University of Queensland | Spend 50 percent or less of the working day sitting; aim to get up every 30 minutes |
| Cornell University Ergonomics Web | One to two minutes of standing and moving every 20 to 30 minutes, plus a rest break every 30 to 60 minutes, plus eye breaks every 15 minutes |
| CCOHS | Do not sit for more than 50 minutes at a time |
| Germany, BAuA | Divide the day roughly 50 percent sitting, 25 percent standing, 25 percent moving |
What to do during the break
The prompts take under two minutes on purpose, because a break you skip is worth nothing. They rotate so you are not doing the same movement twenty times a day.
- Stand up. Changing posture is the active ingredient in the trials that showed a benefit.
- Walk somewhere, even to the end of the room. Fetching water has the useful side effect of making you stand.
- Lean back into a gentle extension if your lower back feels stiff from sitting. Cornell describes a short standing extension as the standard movement break.
- Reset the chair when you return, rather than dropping back into whatever position you drifted into.
The full sequence for setting the chair up so the position you return to is the right one is in Set your chair and desk from your own height. The lumbar support position is in How to use a lumbar support cushion.
One limitation worth naming: a browser timer only works while the tab is open. If you switch to another application the timer keeps running in the background and the prompt will be waiting when you return, but you will not see it appear. The counter catches up rather than drifting, because it reads the clock instead of counting ticks.
How this timer is built, and what it does not do
| Property | This tool |
|---|---|
| Data collected | None. No server, no analytics call, no identifier |
| Data stored | Nothing. The timer keeps its state in memory only, so refreshing or closing the tab resets it |
| External dependencies | None. The countdown is plain JavaScript inside this page |
| Accounts or email required | No |
| Works offline | Yes, once the page has loaded |
| Notifications | None. Browsers restrict notifications on pages like this, so the prompt appears in the page |
| What it cannot do | Detect whether you stood up. The count is a count of prompts, not of breaks taken |
Sources
- Luger T, et al. Work-break schedules and musculoskeletal symptoms. Cochrane 2019 — www.cochrane.org/evidence/CD012886_work-break-interventions-preventing-musculoskeletal-symptoms-and-disorders-healthy-workers
- Waongenngarm P, et al. The effects of breaks on low back pain. Applied Ergonomics 2018 — pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29409639/
- Shrestha N, et al. Interventions for reducing sitting at work. Cochrane 2018 — www.cochrane.org/evidence/CD010912_workplace-interventions-reducing-sitting-work
- Cochrane. Interventions for increasing standing or walking. CD012487 — cochrane.org/CD012487/OCCHEALTH_workplace-interventions-increasing-standing-or-walking-decreasing-musculoskeletal-symptoms-sedentary-workers
- EU-OSHA. Prolonged static sitting at work, 2022 — osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2022-04/Prolonged_static_sitting_at_work.pdf
- Cornell University Ergonomics Web. Workstation ergonomics guidelines — www.ergo.human.cornell.edu/ergoguide.html
- Cornell University Ergonomics Web. Sitting and standing at work — ergo.human.cornell.edu/CUESitStand.html
- CCOHS. Working in a Sitting Position: Good Body Position — www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/ergonomics/sitting/sitting_position.html
- Arienti C, et al. Lumbar supports for chronic low back pain. Cochrane 2026 — www.cochrane.org/evidence/CD015492_do-lower-back-lumbar-supports-and-other-devices-help-people-long-lasting-chronic-low-back-pain-move