It took me some time to get used to my new job
environment. Then I started being too tired to make exercise then too tired to
prepare food to take to work and coming to work late and coming out
of work even later. The result was I started noticed I gained some weight and my level of stress increased
considerably.
I remember seeing campaign add about the not much talked about topic of
women having heart attacks. This film showed a woman with a career and family
and how she was always present, always working hard and one day
she is walking in the street and she just falls down dead. After seeing it I
really felt that that woman could be me!
I’m a very practical person and if I have a problem I will face it and
try to solve it!
.
.
What I found out was one thing that is associated to my stress level is
the amount of exercise that I do and although I was being active I wasn’t
really exercising at all. To add to this my job requires that I sit in front of
a computer almost all the 8 hours of my working day. Jobs where workers have to
make physic activity are not the best paying jobs but they might be the most healthy ones.
The solution is only
one and that is to stand.
So I went online and I read some articles about this topic. In one I
could read that “Sitting is the new Smoking” and it made so much sense to me. And then I found out this video from Nilofer Merchant at TED 2013 where she talks about
this exact problem!
Some companies will have sit-stand adjustable desks in others they will
order it for you but there are the one's that will not want to bother. The worker has to take (literally) a stand… and start standing for some
hours of the day during the work hours. In the beginning everyone is going to
look at you but no one will tell you anything. Any employer recognizes the
(legal) responsibility they have to maintain their employees good health and
the urge to build a work place that respects the ergonomic values so this type of iniciative is generally well apreciated.
At my work place I just start standing and moving my laptop and everything I
need to the top of one shrank. Is right behind my desk and is not completely
perfect in terms of ergonomic but I can’t complain.
Standing at work is how I also fight monotony at work. When I feel that
the work is dragging and I feel tired and not so motivated I just stand up and
it looks like it makes a real a change on my attitude towards work.
When I stand I just wake up and I focus easily.
There is still to determine what is the healthiest sit-stand ratio for
the different genders or body types. People that have to stand all day at work
also have complains of muscular pain and other problems. But I truly believe
that standing during certain daily tasks can make wonders to your work
productivity and can boost out the energy levels.
Of course there are other factors that permit our life’s to be
sedentary. A car, for example, it is a great help on transportation but used
everyday is just an awful tool that enables our lifestyle to go against all our
biological needs and become's destructive towards our health.
I don’t have this car issue just because I don’t own a car and I came to
work with public transportation. But I got inspired by the Microadventures website from Alastair Humphreys and
I decided to take the challenge and come to work by bicycle and since then I
try to come a few days a week with the bike. I still need to find a nicer root
for my 17km trip but what I have right now is doable!
Articles where you can read more about the topic:
- The World Is Your Gym: How To Build The Exercise Habit
- 16 Tips for Desk Jockeys: What to Do About Sitting All Day
- Stand Up, Move More, More Often: Study finds more breaks from sitting are good for waistlines and hearts
- How Sitting All Day Is Damaging Your Body, And How You Can Counteract It
- Sitting Less May Be Key for Maximum Longevity
- Ditch Your Office Chair for a New ‘Standing Desk
- Office employees should be on feet for four hours of working day, study says
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