Your Chair Is Trying to Kill You
On the New York Times's health blog, Gretchen Reynolds discusses the dramatic increase in heart disease-related death for folks who sit for long periods (whether in front of a computer or television, or in the car). Even more alarming for those of us who try to get away from our screens for some exercise are recent studies that show that adding exercise to your daily routine fails to lessen the negative health impacts of a sedentary lifestyle. Rather, we desk jockeys should find ways to increase our physical activity while we work. Frequent walking breaks, pacing while you're talking on the phone, or converting to a standing desk, could truly be a lifesaver.
As someone who easily sits 10 or more hours a day in front of a computer this is really bad news. Well, I don't even own a car and walk or cycle all my ways, but if this doesn't help it is still bad.
I should probably finally get an iPad and use it to stand and walk around at least while reading and browsing... Hey, Apple: Come with a 512MB iPad and you may do something for my health! ;-)
Yeah, speaking as a competitive runner who sits most of the time I'm not running, I was really bummed about this too. I'll be looking into a standing desk like the ones Lex wrote about for Macworld at:
http://www.macworld.com/article/146950/2010/03/standingdesk.html
One thing I'm dreaming of is a kind of cross between a home trainer, a recumbent bike and a computer desk, generating the electricity for my computer by working out in a smooth way.
A standing desk is not bad at all, though. I think I already have something here I could use for that. Thanks for the hint!