A blog about my life, knitting, and other stuff.

April 27, 2011

Stand in the Place Where You Work

Late last night I read Cari's post about two articles that appeared in the New York Times. Wes and I had read them about a week ago and they have been weighing on our minds. I definitely eat far, far too much sugar. Even if you think sugar is harmless in moderation I'm probably off the chart. The second article about how much time we spend sitting and how dangerous that is for us also got us thinking. Wes has started running again. I have tried to just move more generally but let's face it. I'm a knitter. I sit and I knit. A lot. I also am addicted to the internet. I sit at my computer and surf and knit. A lot. So late last night after reading Cari's post I made a move. I cleared off the hutch in our dining room (kind of a big feat) and moved my computer to it. It's just the right height for me. After about ten minutes though I realized that my feet (we don't wear shoes in the house) were going to get really sore from standing on the hardwood floors. I grabbed a few of my foam squares I use for blocking and now, here I am, standing and typing. It's not super comfortable which I hope will encourage me to use the computer less. The best thing is that now that my computer and all my stuff (DVDs, knitting, stitch markers, cables, papers) are off the dining room table we can--gasp!--use the dining room table for eating. Craziness, I know.

8 comments:

Liz T. said...

I read about the standing thing, too, and it scared me. I actually even have a stand-up desk at work but I always sit at it. I am now trying to stand at my desk for the first quarter of each hour and hope to work my way up. Maybe at some point I'll start walking at lunch again, too. Small steps!

Adrienne said...

I read about this and got worried, too. =P And I sort of wonder if standing is enough... our bodies are made to move, not to sit *or* stand in one place. Plus quite frankly my feet hurt if I stand a lot. (They hurt less if I walk a lot, which seems illogical, but there it is.) Anyway I make excuses to get up from my desk as often as I can, but there's really no way around ending up sitting way more than 6 hours a day. I guess I'm doomed.

SweetBeej said...

Please join me in knitting on the treadmill! Easy, small projects (like basic socks) are a fun way to start. Treadmills are boring but adding some needles and yarn turns it into an adventure!

Jamie T said...

I'm afraid I drop things too often to knit on the treadmill! But I do sometimes walk around the house knitting. I just keep the yarn in a bag. I like the idea of putting my computer somewhere a little less convenient for sitting. And standing the first 15 minutes is a great place to start! I don't have the option of standing at work, but I do try to get up and walk - at least to the break room to get a snack! I could use some healthy snack ideas for work. People bring in sweets all the time.

Margaret said...

You could also try sitting on an exercise ball -- it makes your "sitting" time much more active.

AnaMarie said...

The reaction of making a desk you stand at seems like a confusing and incorrect conclusion from the NYT article. The point is to move more, which is why the article mentioned treadmill desks and getting up often; inactivity of any type (see paragraph 7) is bad. If standing at your desk forces you to walk around, move more, or is just better for you, great, but this is an odd reaction. Downloading one of those apps that forces your computer to a screensaver for X minutes every Y minutes to remind you to get up and do something or switching to a treadmill when you surf the Web or knit is a lot more reasonable and helpful. Switching your inactive position is not.

Teresa said...

My sister had emergency back surgery last month. The surgeon's orders are to never stay in one position for more than 30 minutes. Kitchen timer keeps track. Every 30 minutes, you stand (and pace), then sit (with good posture), then lay down. Now whe is up to walking close to 30,000 steps a day (while knitting) because she is walking for about 1/2 hour every hour.
My hands are causing me trouble with tendonitis from typing. The ergonomic specialist says every 30 minutes, stand up, do some calf raises, stretch your arms, and move a little. Kitchen timer to the rescue.
It does make a difference.

Shannon said...

Two things....if you have kids under the age of 12, you can't sit still for long when they are in the house...and if you go for the standing desk, get some nice cooshy flip flops for indoors (I like the teva mush ones) so you don't wind up with heel spurs! But I agree that we are much more sedentary than we should be and I resolve to not curse when I have to carry laundry downstairs and then upstairs anymore!