According to a recent study, regular exercise doesn't counteract the detrimental effects of sitting all day. Health problems associated with sitting include an increased risk of heart disease, poor circulation and back problems. However well-intentioned, my hour of exercise doesn't make up for six hours of parking my butt in a chair at work. Darn it.
The remedy? Turn the office into a gym.
There are wonderful stand-up and treadmill desks out there but they're pricey and certainly not in the budget at work. I also use a huge computer monitor that doesn't work with any of the adjustable arms on the market that allow you to raise or lower your monitor. So I had to get inventive.
My stand-up desk hack is a wooden shelf that I painted Husker red and a new chair that raises and lower so that I can sit or stand.
As a result, I stand about half the day so I cut my hours of sitting from about 6-7 to 3-4. Much better. I usually take my shoes off and stand on my yoga mat (yes, I have a yoga mat at work) and that makes it a little more comfortable for the long haul.
I added a few other daily routines to break up the blocks of time I sit every day.
- I set up my mini-trampoline in the corner (next to Lady Gaga.) It's fun to kick off my shoes and jump on it for a minute or two. The trampoline is right next to a window so I can look outside and enjoy the view.
- I started using the bathroom in the basement of my building. I'm on the third floor so that's a lot of stairs. Eighty stairs each way, to be exact.
- I'm trying really hard to follow a goal I set for myself as part of the Choose Your Own Adventure fitness challenge. I'm trying to take a walk at work at least three days a week. I get up, lace up my tennies, and head outside, even if it's just for ten minutes. (We'll see if I can stick with it all year. It might be a challenge when the snow falls!)
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