If sitting at work is bad for you, try walking at work. That’s what I did today, and I think I’m hooked. I love the “walk station.”
I’ve been to physical therapists for my back off and on for years, and they tell me to get up from the computer every 45 minutes and move. I try to remember. After all, I’ve always known I think better if I walk.
Turns out it’s not just me that shouldn’t sit too long. Lately the news has been full of warnings.
Here, for example, is what Olivia Judson, at the NY Times blog The Opinionator, has to say.
“It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting — in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home — you are putting yourself at increased risk …
“You may think you have no choice about how much you sit. But this isn’t true. Suppose you sleep for eight hours each day, and exercise for one. That still leaves 15 hours of activities. Even if you exercise, most of the energy you burn will be burnt during these 15 hours, so weight gain is often the cumulative effect of a series of small decisions: Do you take the stairs or the elevator? Do you e-mail your colleague down the hall, or get up and go and see her? When you get home, do you potter about in the garden or sit in front of the television? Do you walk to the corner store, or drive?” Etc.
Getting back to my workplace: we have three walk stations that we can reserve by sending them an invitation through our e-mail system. I was lucky when I went to the walk station today, because two experienced colleagues were walking and working on the other machines. They explained how you clear the speed setting from the last person, how you raise and lower the work table, how you set your walk speed.
At first I kept slipping backwards, but I think I’ll improve with time, and I’m already signed up to go back there with my laptop on Monday. Too bad we can’t have one all the time.
Photos: Zack Canepari for The New York Times, left; Chris Machian for The New York Times, right
Sitting at a cubicle vs. walking while clicking and talking.
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