Monday, November 22, 2010

DON'T JUST SIT THERE
Especially if you're at work:
"Are you sitting at your desk right now? If you are, get up!  Too much sitting during your workday can hamper your productivity, and it can also send you to an early grave.  The American Cancer Society this year reported that men and women who sat six hours or more a day were likely to die younger, and that was the case even if they were physically active. The risk for women was even higher.  “There are clear-cut health benefits of not sitting all day,” said Alpa Patel, the main researcher on the study. It may also help concentration and productivity, she added."...An obvious solution to the problem, and one advocated by Patel, is providing workers with  adjustable desks and allowing them to stand or sit throughout the day. That solution, however, is a hard sell in a tough economy when companies aren’t spending as much and employees feel lucky to have desks at all.  “Anything that’s height-adjustable is usually more expensive,” said Jonathan Webb, a vice president with KI, a furniture company that makes adjustable desks costing upwards of $1,000 each. He said the company has seen a 10 to 15 percent dropoff in sales of adjustable desks during the economic downturn.  “We have to educate our clients on what the payback is on purchasing a height-adjustable vs. a stagnant table,” he said. “They can translate into higher employee retention and increased productivity, and in this economy employers are looking to do more with less.”

Many of us with Moebius Syndrome can have leg pains, back pain, general pain, etc.  Sitting for a long time can aggravate that kind of thing...and not be so good for you.  So don't hesitate to seek chances to stand up and move around at work.  I'm lucky, in a way--I teach, so every class gives me a chance to stand up and move.

"The growth of the human mind is still high adventure, in many ways,
the highest adventure on earth." -Norman Cousins

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