10 Ways to Move More at Work

Finding ways to move more during the work day is critical for those who spend hours sitting at the computer or desk either in the office or at home. This sedentary lifestyle from increased desk work is proving to be very unhealthy.The increased rates of obese and overweight adults along with age-related diseases decrease one's overall life expectancy.

Moving and exercising may be key to our longevity. Researchers are finding that "adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals."

Start off by answering several questions about the number of hours spent online a day, the number of inactive hours and the amount of snacking and eating in front of the computer. There are no right answers to the questions. They are just questions to get you thinking.

To make it easier to find ways to add movement into a work day, this lens contains many different ways to move more at work, some which cost nothing by time to implement like going for a walk or watching an online exercise video and others which are more expensive like getting a standing work desk or a treadmill desk. In the long run these ways of adding movement are way less expensive than the cost of living with a chronic disease.

For those interested in learning more about moving more at work see the lunch time seminar that I gave on Move it More, Especially When Teaching Online for @One in the Fall of 2013.

Walking Meeting by bibendum84. Used under a Creative Commons License.

A sedentary lifestyle increases the propensity of aging-related disease and premature death.

Inactivity may diminish life expectancy not only by predisposing to aging-related diseases but also because it may influence the aging process itself.

Researchers King's College, London

Journal Archives of Internal Medicine

Download one of these exercise apps to your phone and you'll always have exercises available at your fingertips.

Ten ways that you can add more movement, or move it more, during your work day.

1. Schedule periodic breaks during the day by setting a timer.
2. Participate in activity breaks or Instant Recess® at work, at meetings and at conferences.
3. Use a wireless headset so you can stand while on the phone.
4. Track your daily steps with a pedometer.
5. Walk everywhere and anytime you can. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park the car at a distance and walk into work.
6. Keep and use some hand weights in the office.
7. Have easily accessible exercise clips or video clips available as bookmarked favorites on your computer or as a readily available DVD.
8. Change your desk chair to a ergonomic, stability ball.
9. Change your desk to a standing desk or a treadmill desk.
10. Encourage walking or standing meetings in place of sit down ones.

View the recorded webinar that I gave in Fall 2013 to get you moving move. It was inspired by this information researched for this page.

Dr. Toni Yancey, author of "Instant Recess", explains the health benefits of working out at work using different techniques.

Getting people to change their behavior requires making a commitment to change. Pick one of these activities that you are most likely to incorporate into your work day.

If there is something else, add it in the comments. If there is more than one, pick the first one and add the others in the comments.

One of the easiest ways to remind yourself to take a break is to get a kitchen timer that you like and put it on the desk. Get into the habit of setting it to take stretch breaks.

This type of reminder can be very helpful for people who get so engrossed in what they are doing on the computer that they forget to get up and move.

Ideally you should be moving at least every hour. Pick an interval that works 20 - 30 minutes. When the alarm goes off, stand up, stretch. Walk to the bathroom, up and down the hallway or stairs or even outside around the block. Whatever gets you moving.

The cute Penguin Kitchen Timer is available on Amazon

If Dr. Tony Yancey has her way, everyone would be taking regular 10 minute exercise breaks during the day to improve health and productivity.

Studies have shown that a little exercise in the afternoon increases the likelihood that people will get even more exercise in the evening or on the weekend.

Programs like Instant Recess that promotes regular 10 minute exercise breaks can be are easily incorporated into school, work, and community life.

These activity breaks are being more in the work settings, by employers who are recognizing the benefits of exercise on productivity in their employees.

Instant Recess available on Amazon

We just aren't really structured to be sitting for such long periods of time.

When we do that, our body just goes into shutdown.

Dr. Tony Yancey

Instant Recess

Listen to Dr. Toni Yancey describe the intervention, Instant Recess and Lift Off, an innovative program to provide physical activity breaks to people at work.

Dr. Yancey's research shows adding 10-minute Recess breaks in the day:

1. Helps control employees' weight
2. Prevent depression, diabetes, heart disease and cancer
3. Recess Breaks can improve employee productivity and morale
4. Breaks can also decrease injuries and absenteeism

If you use the telephone a lot, need to dictate or record (I record lectures), having a wireless headset helps you to be more mobile.

A hands-free set gives you roaming space, so you can stand up and walk (or pace) while you are on the phone.

The good news is that standing takes more energy and burns more calories than sitting, so standing while working is much more active.

Logitech Wireless available on Amazon

There are so many different wireless headsets options now. Pick your favorite so you can get up and move while on the computer.

An easy way to get in some weight training during work breaks is to bring in a set of small hand weights or walking weights. With hand weights one can work the upper muscles, the biceps, triceps and shoulders.

Put on the walking weights for when walking around the block to increase upper body muscles while walking with the lower ones.

Watch the selected video clips for suggestions on including hand weights in desk exercises.

Neoprene hand weights available on Amazon

Keep a heavier set of weights (5 to 10+ lbs) near your desk for bicep curling breaks and a lighter set of walking weights (2 to 4 lbs) to carry and use when out for a walking break.

To be even more motivated get a pedometer and start tracking all of the steps in a day. You might find that you get in a lot of steps, or that you get in very few.

If you discover you are getting in few steps, look at ways to adjust your routes to increase walking as part of your day.

The general rule of thumb is to be walking 10000 a day which is equivalent to walking 5 miles over the course of a day. This number works for relatively healthy adults. For weight loss one may need to aim for 12,000 to 15,000 steps.

Ozeri 4x3razor Pedomiter available on Amazon

Start this video clip and do a quick 5 minute walk with Leslie Sansone at your desk. Do it twice for 10 minutes.

An easy and inexpensive way of exercising at work is to try out several of the video clips I found from different sources around the Internet and included below or search for your own.

The office video clips range from very serious and professional to more whimsical. What these clips do have in common is encouraging viewers to get up and get moving.

Be sure to bookmark any favorites so they are readily and easily accessible.

Office Yoga: Moderate Exercises in Your Cubicle video available on demand on Amazon.

Tips to help you take a stretch break, fit in fitness at the office from MSURehabMed, elfersp, diethealth, ASUCampusRec, fitnessedinburgh and GreenMtnFoxRun

Swapping out a stationary chair for a balance ball or stationary ball can help in increasing activity levels.

The stationary balls can also help to improve core muscles and improve spine alignment, because one has to be contracting core muscles to remain upright and balancing on the ball.

The ergodynamic chair to the right is from Switzerland. It is also known as the ergo ball chair, swiss egg chair, ergonomic office chair or ErgoChair. It is an egg-shaped variation on the balance ball. The egg shaped chair was designed in Switzerland by a group of engineers, doctors and physical therapists. One key advantage is that the ErgoChair uses much less floor space than a ball chair.

The balance balls and ergo chairs are proving to be more ergonomic for improving spinal alignment.

Ergo Chair Ergonomic Ball Chair available on Amazon.

Researchers in a 2008 study at New York School of Bioscience found that the energy expended was 4.1 kcal/h greater while performing work sitting on a therapy ball than while sitting in an office chair.

The researchers concluded that "sitting on a therapy ball or standing rather than sitting in an office chair while performing clerical work increases passive energy expenditure."

This translates to 30 kcals / day or 600 kcals / month.

Changing your desk from a sitting desk to a standing one can make a big difference when it comes to moving and activity levels.

You can purchase a standing workstation, with the models below, or get innovative and create your own standing work area, like the one to the right which just used several file cabinets.

In a Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers reported on the health and weight loss benefits of changing sitting computer time with walking and working time.

They discovered that if sitting computer-time were replaced by walking-and-working, energy expenditure could increase by 100 kcal/h. Over the course of a year, if obese individuals replaced sitting time at the computer with walking computer time by just 2-3 h/day, and if other components of energy balance were constant, they could potentially loose 20-30 kg/year.

Standing Work "Desk" Area by Joahnunn

Mayo Clinic Researchers found that if sitting computer time were replaced by walking-and-working, energy expenditure could increase by 100 kcal/h.

If obese and overweight individuals replaced 2-3 h/day sitting at the computer with walking computer time (or using a standing desk) they could lose 20-30 kg/year.

The ultimate way to increase movement while working would be to turn one's desk into a treadmill desk.

Working on a treadmill might be easier for those needing to do a lot of reading or those who can dictate messages, but as can be seen with the TrekDesk there is plenty of space to work while you work out.

Even just using the treadmill for a few hours a day instead of sitting can make a big impact over the course of a year as see in the research on shifting from sitting to walking above.

Put on a pair of walking or running shoes, hop on your desk and keep walking or running while you work.

TrekDesk Treadmill Desk available on Amazon

Walking meetings are a great way to get business done and exercise at the same time. As a way to encourage employees health and fitness, some companies are starting to include walking meetings on treadmills in a special room or getting outside.

Word is that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is partial to taking walks in the wood around Palo Alto, an event reserved for family and close friends, but sometime for potential Facebook employees.

Walking meetings are not new. President Reagan can be seen pictured in many walking meetings like with Margaret Thatcher, a much younger Senator John McCain and even Pope John Paul II.

Walking meetings can be informal breaks or more organized meetings with formal agenda and a tape recorder to keep track of the conversations and the ideas.

See Mambowalks' article on Walking Meetings: Doing Business Like Zuckerman for even more ideas.

Walking Meeting by bibendum84

The potential for mindless eating is greater for those who eat their meals in front of a computer or laptop while working, particularly at home. Mindlessly munching large amounts of food can be very easy to do when working on a computer at home.

Ways to be more mindful about eating include:

• 1. Limit eating in front of the computer or while on the laptop.
• 2. Practice Mindful Eating techniques.
• 3, Be fully aware of the foods you are eating when eating.

My favorite Mindful Eating Books

Which of these ideas might you use to move more during your work day?