Drive To Work But Then Walk At Work, What next?

We’ve been told that sitting for prolonged periods is detrimental to our health, in fact I’ve seen infographics saying that our sedentary sitting habits will kill us. Well, you might have to drive to work but now you can spend your day walking without ever leaving your desk.

One ingenious solution to this common dilemma is the ‘walking work station’ - a treadmill type setup at your desk. There seems to be a logical progression happening here - from sitting to standing and now walking. The standing work station, simply an elevated desk that requires you to stand instead of sit, has been around for some time and I have even tried it myself for some months. Now I read that standing, although better than sitting, is still sedentary and not going to provide the counter benefits worthy of the change in setup. The next step (excuse the pun) is the walking work station.

An assessment and review of 180 participants, conducted at a University in the States, found walking work stations improve engagement during computer based activities; improving satisfaction, reducing stress and boredom and even varied levels of arousal (whatever that is supposed to mean).

Study findings here - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141029124618.htm

The next step, or peddle, would naturally be a cycling work station. If a treadmill can be incorporated so should a seated cycling machine. In fact, this has been done and was part of the study I mention here. However, the results from the cycling station were in fact negative; reducing satisfaction and performance. !?

I find this all rather ironic. During my time in corporate London life we had many thousands of employees who worked in operational roles, manual labour intensive. We also had many hundreds of office based staff. Our office team were sitting too much and needed to move more while our operational staff complained of too much activity and various repetitive strain type injuries.

This is a useful example reminding me of the value and influence of perspective. We see things through the eye of our very own experience and sometimes when we’re feeling low it helps to look around and observe our situation from another point of view.

Structured movement

If the walking or cycling work stations aren’t quite your thing and if you are looking for a way to keep yourself strong and flexible - come and try the Pilates exercise system led by an experienced instructor and Physiotherapist.

Our new term begins next week on Monday the 12th January 2015. We have a big term staring with classes running every day, beginner to advanced level classes.

You can view our full schedule and find details of how to join a class here - http://mmphysiopilates.com/dublin/join-a-class.html

Happy New year and I wish you a healthy and active start to your 2015.

Best,
Robin