There should be a couple command line tools to read HN, this way you can even stay in the terminal and don't need to switch to the browser
Switching to my browser, navigating to HN, and checking the first page (and going back if nothing interests me) already does not require me to touch my mouse and can be done with very few keystrokes. Typically, I visit HN when I'm waiting for something to complete or similar, though, in which case I anyways happily move my hand to the mouse, as I'll be _browsing_ for a bit