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The year was 2008 and I was living with some friends in a shabby, yet lovable house in Waterloo Ontario. My friend Tony had just returned from a trip home to see his family. As he tended to do, he brought some food back to our house for mass consumption. This time it wasn’t his mother’s award winning banana bread; it was a big purple box of Halloween candy. “Go nuts!” he said as he dropped the box in front of us in the living room. Oh, I’ll go nuts alright.
Over the next few days, I dabbled. Anytime I’d walk by this purple pleasure box, I’d take a Coffee Crisp or maybe a Kit Kat or two. Who cares? A day or two later, my friend Steve (who is now the iconic figure pictured in all of the Are You Ergo? illustrations) walked into my room and looked in my garbage can. It had more wrappers in it than a half dozen Wu-Tang Clans. He started giggling in a high-pitched voice as he picked up a handful of the wrappers. He then let them float back into the garbage can like dry leaves on brisk Fall afternoon.Image may be NSFW.
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On the one hand, I’ve demonstrated an important survival mechanism: If there was a famine or some type of emergency situation, I probably could have lasted for 3 months from consuming the equivalent of a 3-year-old’s weight in mini-chocolate bars. On the other, more realistic hand, I had just stomach-garbaged an entire box of Halloween candy without even realizing it.
The point of the story is this: sometimes, if we aren’t consciously keeping track of something, we can get carried away. In the daily grind of offices and sedentary work, few of us have taken the time to calculate how long we spend in a seated position. Don’t be alarmed when you feel the tickling of epiphany dust sprinkled all over you.
In each box, put in the number of hours. Ex: 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2.5, 5, 6.5
If you’re not surprised by how high that number is, then you’re lying. I would guess that most people are tom cruising towards 8-10 hours per day, which is risky business. This exercise was meant to make you aware of your total sitting time, and to give you baseline from which to springboard into your new lifestyle. Unfortunately, there are no specific guidelines for sitting time. The consensus among researchers seems to be similar to the guidelines for getting out of a burning building: “stay low.” The more you sit, the more you’re at risk. Regardless of what your total was, you’ll benefit from lowering it. Image may be NSFW.
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Here are some activities that you can try in a standing position:
Breakfast
You’re standing while you make your breakfast, keep it up while you eat. Boom, 10 minutes.
Walking or biking to work
Sure, you might live far from your office, but don’t tell me that there isn’t a convenient place to park your car somewhere that would force you to take a little walk. Boom, 20 minutes. Note: it might even save you some money if you park a little further away from the core of a city! Use that money to invest in your future.
Thinking
Pondering while sitting is a waste, stand up. Boom, 20 minutes.
Reading
Reading from a tablet, books, binders, files? Stand. – Boom, 20 minutes.
Lunch breaking
Take a walk outside. Get back to work feeling refreshed and ready to conquer more stuff. Boom, 30 minutes and a bump in productivity.
Walking meetings
Need to meet with Janet from accounting? Take a walk around outside, her office smells like old cat anyway. Boom, 20 minutes.
Telephoning
I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t make your daily telephone calls from a standing position. Alexander Graham Bell would have preferred it that way. Boom, 20 minutes.
Standing at your desk
Your key to a significant reduction in sedentary time. This one is really the Thor’s Hammer of recommendations. Boom, check mate.
Hitting the gym
Exercise and a reduction in sitting time? Two birds, one boom. Boom, 30-60 minutes.
Post-dinner walking
The good tv shows only come on at 9 anyway. Boom, 30 minutes.
These recommendations alone have probably saved you from at least an hour or two of standing. Now all you have to do is think about all of the fun things you’ll do in the extra few months of life you just bought yourself. Personally, I’m going to take up photography.
If you’re interested in an ergonomic, compact, wall-mounted standing desk for your home of office, visit www.StandingDesks.ca
Take a brief walk, then come back and read another gem:
Make Your Own Standing Desk!
What Rafael Nadal’s big nasty can teach you about ergonomics.
Do I sit too much?
Ergonomics Fail: A real pain in the coccyx.
The Swiss Ball will save us!
Your wrists are like baby squirrels.
photo credit: Matt McGee via photopin cc
photo credit: Julie Danielle via photopin cc
photo credit: DaveAustria.com via photopin cc