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March 27, 2006
work and walk
At work I've been participating in a weight-loss challenge with five other co-workers. We each put in $10 a week and if we make our weekly personal goal, we split the pot with the other winners. If we all lose, the money goes in for the following week. We have all sorts of little rules for traveling--when you can adjust your wait, etc. So far I've been a winner for 10 of the 12 weeks. Last week I was traveling and was out. This week I think will be a bust but overall I've lost probably eight or nine pounds total so that's not so bad!
The supportive competitiveness of it has been great. It's really cool to have all of us on board. When we go out for lunch we're looking to eat healthy. Some of us will take walks at lunch together. We talk about exercise and what lengths we'll go to in order to be a winner each week. One of my co-workers even found a sauna suit at Wal-mart to run in!! We give her a huge bad time about it.
Today my manager sent me a pretty interesting article about treadmill desks.
The article talked about how Dr. James Levine, a Mayo Clinic obesity researcher in Rochester, Minn. has rigged his desk with a treadmill to enable him to walk while doing emails, phone calls and other desk work. It's a really interesting idea.
The urge to help workers overcome sedentary lifestyles is based on a scientific concept known as NEAT, nonexercise activity thermogenesis, or the energy spent on physical activities of daily living. The NEAT theory says there is more metabolic benefit from frequent fidgeting and small movements than from sitting still for days with an occasional hard-core workout.In other words, no sweat but big possible health gains. By walking 1 mile per hour on a treadmill, a worker could burn 100 extra calories an hour, Levine said. ''We're talking potential weight loss of 30, 40 pounds a year," he said.
And even cooler, they could be cheaper than regular workstations.
Treadmill workstations cost $1,100 compared with a standard cubicle price of $2,000, Levine said. He's working with companies to develop a product that could be mass-produced. He said several Minnesota-based employers are interested in the idea, but he declined to name them.
Really cool. I seriously would love to have something like that!! Not for walking ALL day but for big chunks of time it would be great.
Posted by crystallyn at March 27, 2006 09:11 PM
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