Sitting leads to health problems....

The NYTimes has a great article today that summarizes the health impact of sitting.  It's not pretty folks. 

It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting — in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home — you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.

 

The author repeats the oft-suggested recommendation to turn your desk into a treadmill+desk area.  The idea being:  run or walk on the treadmill while you do your desk work.  I am reminded of how it felt to go for a run while pushing my infant son in a stroller.  All I can say is:  DON'T DO IT.  It completely disrupts the normal biomechanics of running or jogging or frankly, even walking.  You can check this out by going out for a run and holding your arms out in front of you.  Very quickly you realize how much momentum is created by your arms swinging at your sides.  If you are running or walking on a treadmill and you can't swing your arms (because they are on the keyboard in front of you) you are losing the wind-up phase of every step.  Ick. 

However, it may be that the health benefits of walking on a treadmill while working is worth the biomechanical ick factor.  I just know that I couldn't do it.  Instead I fidget.  I bounce my leg up and down... I type a few words then spin in my chair,  I look out the window, etc.  I never knew that being a fidgeter would turn out to be in my favor!