Ultimate Gift for Desk-Workers

Yesterday, Valentine's Day, was our first anniversary. Lance and I ran off and got hitched on Valentine's Day last year, so he, being married to a writer, made up the new term, Valeversary for our day. And it was wonderful and we are blissfully happy. But that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to tell you about my gift.

Now let me tell you the results. I'm writing this post with the treadmill on. I got my email this morning that way too. And in just that amount of time, time I used to spend sitting, I've  walked almost 5000 steps. I've been wearing a pedometer wrist band thingie (I've had Fitbit and Jawbone, and one's about as good as the other) and struggling to get 10,000 steps a day into my life. I average around 7000 on busy days, and under 5000 on days when I'm getting a lot of writing done. However, now, today, 5000 steps just while doing my online routine, stuff I do every single day. Add that to my normal daily average and I'm going to be getting way more than 10,000 steps a day.

And I've said several times, you know as long as I'm standing up at the desk, I could be walking at the desk and getting double the benefit. Which is what inspired my guy to get such perfect gifts for me.

Sitting, say the health pundits, is the new smoking. People who sit at desks for hours on end, die younger, have more illnesses, and more musculoskeletal problems than those who do not. Here's a great article about the harm sitting does to our bodies.

I just know this is going to change my life. Every time I have any sort of health challenge, it always results in me being forced to do things that will make me way healthier than I was before it. Every single time. This will be no different.

I'll still spend 2 hours a day, give or take, composing fiction in my upstairs workspace. I'll do it standing up. (Still stacks of books on that desk.) I'm loving this new setup so much that I'll soon upgrade to a standing desk up there too, and maybe add a second treadmill underneath. And as a result, I'm going to live forever. 😉

So for all writers, and all of you who spend hours a day at a desk, raise your desk to waist height or so, and start working standing up. This can be done for free (as I've been doing with the book stacks) if you have an innovative mind. Adding the treadmill is something I very strongly recommend as well. That can be pricey, but it's nothing compared to the extra years you're going to add to your life.

For more info: this infographic is from http://metro.co.uk/2012/10/04/could-sitting-around-doing-nothing-really-be-as-bad-for-us-as-smoking-592637/ If it's too small to read here, there's a link there for a larger size.

Enjoy!

Maggie

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