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Get Off Your Ass
 

Moneyball's picture
ER
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 1:00pm
get off your ass.jpeg

I know that some of you on WSO (from reading posts) spend a few hours a week at the gym, but apparently fitting in exercise into your busy professional lifestyle does not negate 80+ hours of sitting while your "arteries cram", according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

A raft of recent medical research has shown that the more time a person spends sitting every day, the more likely he or she is to suffer from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and, worst of all, an early death. One recent study, from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., followed 17,000 Canadians over 12 years and found that those who sat for most of the day were 54 percent more likely to die of heart attacks than those who didn’t.

Standing desks have been used at Google, Facebook and other tech companies. This article also suggests getting up every hour or so can have much more health benefits than hitting the gym (not that the gym is a bad thing). Companies who make standing desks are booming and even insurance companies are taking "sitting disease" seriously.

I've never really given this much thought, even though it's obvious that sitting all day glued to the computer can't be good for you. I also usually don't obsess over my health, but I would even go as far as comparing long periods of sitting to smoking (now that I've read this article), where you don't see the effects until later when it's too late. Heck, I might even consider buying a standing or treadmill desk.

Any thoughts? Do you take these warnings seriously? Do you get up and walk often? If so, how many times?

Moneyball
See my other WSO blog posts
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Comments

Determined's picture

My desk can be elevated so I

 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 1:46pm

My desk can be elevated so I can stand at it. The only reason I do it though is to stay awake because it's hard to fall asleep standing up.

Talent is hitting a target no one can hit.
Genius is hitting a target no one can see.

UFOinsider's picture

Standing desks are great, I'm

O
(Human, 10,347
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 2:23pm

Standing desks are great, I'm trying to get one in here. I tried it for a day and felt like I was back bartending. I'm sure there are health benefits as well: the human body did not evolve to sit around for long periods of time and you see a clear difference between the health of office drones and those who take physically active jobs within only a few years after school ends.

YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...

WSOusername's picture

In the words of KFC: "If

 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 2:40pm

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
In the words of KFC:
"If you’ve got a treadmill attached to your desk, your net worth better be like 8 billion dollars. You better be the CEO making like a hundred mil a year. Otherwise this Dwight Schrute clown walking 1 MPH all day long deserves wedgies and swirlies all day long. Same thing goes for people who sit on exercise balls to try to work out their core. You’re a Cubicle Monkey. You’re trapped in a cage of mental, physical and emotional atrophy. Its your fate. Your sentence. Just accept it.

PS – Does this guy walk all day in slacks and a pair of Bostonians? Like full suit or business casual just trekking throughout his life of Excel 1 mile at a time? Unbelievable."

GBS

InDerSchweiz's picture

GoldmanBallSachs: "It's your

(Monkey, 40
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 3:06pm
GoldmanBallSachs:

"It's your fate. Your sentence. Just accept it."

I don't think that's the right attitude to have.

WSOusername's picture

^clearly not. But at the

 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 3:41pm

^clearly not. But at the same time, a cubicle monkey bitching about sitting on his ass is like a fisherman bitching about how much he hates water... so I see where he's coming from

GBS

hopesanddreams's picture

I want a desk with a

(Orangutan, 329
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 5:16pm

I want a desk with a treadmill! I think that's a pretty decent idea. Not too office friendly though in terms of space/noise.

Imagine trying to work while everyones sweating, bashing their keyboards and falling apart. Oh wait isn't that a trading floor? Joke

RanMan's picture

I get up and walk around a

(Monkey, 33
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 7:28pm

I get up and walk around a little about every 45mins, especially if things are slow. Can't sit still much longer unless I'm very, very busy.

Moneyball's picture

Maybe the treadmill is a bit

ER
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 8:16pm

Maybe the treadmill is a bit too much, but I don't think a standing desk would be too much stretch of the imagination. And I'm not advocating management should spend millions of dollars investing in these desks. Really, just spend a few minutes "off your ass" every hour or so is good enough. I know a lot of people on WSO DO care about their health, and it's just a neat idea to multi-task and get a workout done before you get off work. I know I feel too tired to think about working out after work.

Moneyball
See my other WSO blog posts

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