The New York Times article Work. Walk 5 Minutes. Work. discusses how people felt and performed during an average work day if they took either a 30 minute walk or short 5 minute hourly breaks.
The short breaks were more potent for staying refreshed an alert during the work day. (Obviously this is not a replacement for other lengthier exercise in the day!)
FitBit builds hourly activity goals into its devices for the reasons stated here:
Research shows that prolonged sitting is associated with a significantly higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and depression, as well as muscle and joint problems. Even if you meet typical exercise guidelines, sitting for long periods of time can still compromise your health. Fortunately, moving even a few minutes every hour reduces the negative effects of sitting.
(You can see the research links at the FitBit page by the way.
So in addition to being more productive for your work, you can have a better quality of life for yourself as well.
One thing I like about it is that if you have a daily step goal, by chipping away at it hourly, you don’t end up having to walk 10,000 steps at 9 PM. We both know that is probably NOT going to happen (though I do crank out remaining steps at that hour!).
If you’re more ambitious you can try this… think of this as FitBit helping you to “Grease the Groove” in something you want ot accomplish. Use the hourly reminders to walk 250 steps as a reminder to do a set of calisthenics too.. squats or pushups for example. Or use it as a reminder to climb a flight of stairs and check off another activity towards your daily goals.
You can also use it as a reminder to do other – non physical things – like pray. Or meditate. Or practice deep breathing. Make it work for you, but get your steps in every hour. I try to get 14 hours a day of this activity! How many hours are you trying to stay active each day?