Get up now! That back fat you’ve been trying to lose is actually desk fat.

Yet another study shows that sitting for hours in our desk chairs is really bad for our health, and has also led to the rising obesity rate in this country.

PLoS One, an online medical and scientific journal, reported this week that a reduction in manufacturing and agricultural jobs in the last 50 years has led to more of us sitting at the office and engaged in very little physical activity. And that’s made us all thicker around the mid section.

This from the report’s conclusion:

Over the last 50 years in the U.S. we estimate that daily occupation-related energy expenditure has decreased by more than 100 calories, and this reduction in energy expenditure accounts for a significant portion of the increase in mean U.S. body weights for women and men.

I’ve been beating the standing-desk horse for a while. And that’s why I now have a standing desk. Here’s a photo of what I rigged up in my home office: (more…)

I spent two weeks testing a standing desk in my home office and my life is forever changed.

The desk made such a difference in my productivity, my back pain, and my general health that I had to have one. I couldn’t quite swing the $700-plus price tag so I rigged together my own standing desk.

Clearly, it’s not the most beautiful thing to behold, and I’m probably risking computer catastrophe if someone slams a door too hard. But I’m willing to face that risk in order to stand up for my health.

Here’s a video wrapping up my experience, the people I talked to and the overall benefits of getting up from a desk chair that may be killing you:

How will I ever go back to sitting in a desk chair?

I hit the seven-day mark with my standing desk and I’m already dreading my return to a sitting desk in one week.

I decided to test out a standing desk for two weeks because of growing evidence that sitting more than six hours a day is killing us.

Here’s a video update of how the experiment is going. Hope you like Elton John.

This week I’ve begun what will be a two-week experiment testing a standing desk in my office.

What prompted this experiment were all the reports about how spending too much time sitting in a desk chair at work can actually take years off your life.

The American Cancer Society conducted a study and found:

“It’s not just how much physical activity you get, but how much time you spend sitting that can affect your risk of death. Researchers say time spent sitting was independently associated with total mortality, regardless of physical activity level.”

This freaked me out a bit because I can sit as much as 10 hours a day sometimes when I’ve got lots of work.

I called Dr. Alpa Patel, the author of the report, to find out if I’m headed for an early grave and she didn’t say no.

Here’s a video of my first day with my new friend, the KI standing desk (Did you know Donald Rumsfeld had a standing desk?:

My intern Julia Nollen and I will be chronicling my progress in blog posts and videos, and also looking at whether it’s realistic for typical office working stiffs to stand all day. We’ll also be looking at whether it’s realistic to expect employers to pony up the big bucks for these desks when most are reluctant to even make new hires.

OK, I got my vital signs–

Blood pressure: 128/70. This is on the high side for my but my friend Debbie the doctor said it was high because I wouldn’t shut up when she was taking my blood pressure.

Heart rate: 92. Again high for me but my friend and neighbor Vicki the nurse said it was probably high because I was running around before she came over to take it. I took it again via an app my hubby got me for my phone and it was 80.

Weight: 141. Not on the high side. I’m typically in the 138 to 142 range.

I will take these all again at the end of the two-week standing experiment to see if it made a difference.

SIT UP STRAIGHT PEOPLE!

Is work giving you a pain in the neck?

I’m not surprised given today’s workplace. It’s making us all want to slump down in our chairs.

Workers who still have jobs are doing the work of one or more employees; pay and benefits have been cut for many; and who has the time or money to go to the gym these days.

It’s a recipe for ergonomic disaster. (more…)