Tips for Using a Standing Desk with Treadmill
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UNSIT YOURSELF Written by the UnSit Team Paul Byrne, Rob Jacobs, Lee Schneider, Kate Durocher, Terry Nguyen Graphic design by Jennifer Bumba Published by UnSit Produced by Red Cup Agency Copyright 2017 by UnSit. All Rights Reserved. http://www.unsit.com/ Dedication Dedicated to Dr. James Levine and to all the people who have walked before us. We hope this book will UnSit you. TABLE OF CONTENTS Getting Started What This Book Is About The Perils of Sitting Who Has Time to Walk? No Time to Exercise? Change Your Life by Walking Why Beethoven, Steve Jobs, and Others Took Long Walks Habits of Successful People Who Walk at Work How Much Exercise Do You Need? The Power of Taking Breaks Creativity Find Your Creative Spark Walk Your Way Out of a Creative Rut Walk into Your Creativity Learning and Happiness Make Learning a Moving Experience Happiness Wellness at Work Get Away from Your Desk Fitness at Work as a Hiring Inventive The Healthy Company Tips for Using a Standing Desk with Treadmill Wrapping Up Don’t Walk Away Yet What This Book Is About We were designed to move. Long ago, that capability allowed us to gather food, hunt, and flee predators, but over time mechanization and the drive for efficiency has taken the labor, i.e. movement, out of the majority of our days. In most Western societies, only a small minority work the fields or walk the factory floor. While progress has made our lives much easier, the resulting lack of movement has had a significant negative impact on our health and well-being. We sit almost ten hours a day, resulting in a host of complications. Obesity and diabetes are at near-epidemic levels. For the first time in two centuries, the next generation is expected to have a life expectancy lower than that of their parents. Most of us fail to take action to mitigate the damage. In this book, you’ll learn what this lack of movement is doing to our bodies and our health. You will also learn that undoing that damage is easier than you might think, and that it comes with huge side benefits like enhanced productivity, creativity, and sense of well-being. We know the excuses – “I don’t have time,” “it hurts to exercise or move too much,” and “I don’t know how,” just to name a few. We know we should do it, but we manage to talk ourselves out of it. Contrast that with your car: you follow the maintenance schedule, change the oil, and get new tires, because you know if you don’t you will pay dearly later. But for some reason, when it comes to our bodies we choose to avoid doing what’s necessary. All of us were issued only one body. It’s our transport vehicle through life, and the extent we choose to take care of it will, to a large degree, dictate how well we move through life and maximize the gift we were given. Getting back on track does not require hours at the gym. It’s a matter of choosing your time and wisely approaching how you use it. Read on. The Perils of Sitting If you work in an office, your worldview probably originates from behind a desk, while you are sitting in a chair. You probably spend fifty to seventy percent of your day sitting. Unfortunately, a growing collection of scientific research contends that it's a bad idea to spend your day in a chair. Writers, scientists, and experts have warned of the health dangers of hours of sitting. The watershed book on this topic, and the one that first got us working on how to UnSit the world, is not only a great read, but is also backed by original research. It's Dr. James A. Levine's Get Up! Why Your Chair is Killing You and What You Can Do About It. Dr. Levine uses a personal narrative, interesting cases, and his own research into the causes of obesity to come to a compelling conclusion: in today's chair-dominated world, we don't use our bodies as they were intended to be used. A stark consequence is a decline in our health. Levine says that long-term sitting over the average workday is a leading cause of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. He also believes that our switch to sedentary behavior has reshaped much of our lives, from office and classroom design to social interactions. Wait. There's an easy fix. All you have to do is move. Levine advocates taking regular breaks when sitting down for long periods, and he is a fan of both standing desks and treadmill desks for daily use. Standing desks take up about the same amount of space as a regular desk. You can adjust the height to full standing or, if you need a rest, to sitting. If you want to keep moving, try a treadmill desk like UnSit's WALK-1. Over the course of a day, it's easier to walk than it is to stand still, so a treadmill under your desk might be just the answer for better health. For most of us, the challenge is not a lack of desire – we all want to be healthier and live longer. Our biggest challenge is a lack of time. We all need more of it, and still there are only twenty- four hours in a day. Next, we’ll cover how to get some of that time back. Who Has Time to Walk? Walking for your health seems like such an obvious activity that you might even take it for granted. “I already walk every day,” you tell yourself. "Isn't that enough?" But no matter what your inner “angel voice” might be telling you, you may be surprised to learn that we need to take from 10,000 to 15,000 steps every day for our own good. That tracks out to around five to seven miles. “Impossible!” you might retort. “I sit at a desk all day. There is no way I can get a couple of miles of walking done.” Before you make that pronouncement, you might want to know that a large body of research says that sitting behind that desk of yours is almost certainly damaging your health and is probably killing you. Ouch. Fortunately, there is a solution, and it's simple. One of the most transformative moves of your entire life would be to get up and get moving during your workday. The reasons for doing this begin with enhanced creativity and productivity, and end with extending your life – serious stuff for anybody. Not all of this book is deadly serious, though. Let's not forget that walking at work can be fun, and we’ll show you how. We will share our own story and those of our customers, and will introduce you to the latest research and inspirational thinking about moving for health. Let’s get started. No Time to Exercise? You might obsess about money and love, but time is likely your most valuable commodity. If you have kids, your day is certainly full. If you are pursuing a challenging career, your day is probably stressful. If you commute to work, you might subtract two hours in traffic from available time each day. Everything takes time, and there is only so much time in the day. If you’re a farmer, beautician, or construction worker – wonderful! You are on your feet all day and burning lots of calories already. For the rest of us who work at desks, sitting in chairs for most of the day – how will we take the daily steps we need? Only twenty percent of Americans exercise regularly. We might grab a pickup basketball game on a Saturday morning or chase our kids around the park for half an hour. You might do yoga, play tennis, or go on a run a couple mornings a week. Some of you might hit the gym after work. Unfortunately, according to Dr. Levine and other researchers, none of it will be enough to counteract a day of sitting. The solution is to revamp your workday – not drastically, but in increments. As you progress you’ll be surprised how easy it is to get 10,000 steps in while you work. If you still want to visit the gym after that, fine, but know that you’ve done more for your health while walking at work than you’ll accomplish with all the equipment a gym has to offer. Over time, you’ll feel better, lose weight, and become more productive, all while saving valuable hours to allocate any way you wish. The biggest changes start with small decisions. Here are a few suggestions. If you’re still sitting at work: Don’t Get Stuck on Your Screen Look away from your computer and into the distance every few minutes. Set a timer if you need a reminder. Get up and walk around at about the same intervals. These small choices will very likely give you a taste for more movement. You might be inspired to break up your workday with a brisk twenty-minute walk or a longer workout. Office Yoga Desk Yogi is a video series designed for people who work at desks. It will encourage you to move at (or near) your desk every day. From Standing Desk to Treadmill Desk A standing desk will free you from your chair. This is a good first step, as we will discuss in the coming sections.