back pain Injuries physical therapy Recommendations Review

Sitting Too Much

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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8 Comments

  1. Lori

    I wish, wish, wish I could work standing up. I have to sit for hours a day to work the footpedal while I transcribe. I haven’t found a way to be able to stand and operate a footpedal without having my weight shifted to one side, which aggravates my back. Even if I stand up and walk around each hour – I still have to sit the same amount of time each day.

    I think you will adjust over time to stand more. It just takes longer than one would like 😀

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Oh man, I can see where that would be a problem. I do find myself shifting my weight sometimes and I remind myself to fix my posture. This week has been a lot better with the new desk. Yesterday I spent the majority of the day standing so that’s good.

  2. Kitty

    I work from home so I am not in a traditional office. I do have a treadmill desk I made myself and I can actually use it with my laptop walking at a slow pace. I was doing that a lot last year until I had a leg injury and couldn’t use the treadmill for awhile.

    Right now, I have a small program on my computer that I have set to pop up on my computer every half hour. I’ve read that just walking and moving around a couple of minutes every hour helps (in fact, the study I read said that was more helpful than standing). Here is a link to the article:

    http://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffairs/news/2015/04/04-30-15_short_walks_offset_hazards_of_sitting_too_long.php

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s really cool that you were able to set up a treadmill desk for your work!
      Thanks for the link, I will read it!

  3. Fran

    I have a desk job and I have learned myself that when I need to ask someone a question I walk to their desk instead of picking up the phone or mail them.

    A colleague of mine has gotten a standing desk recently. She can put her entire desk up or down. It works very well for her.

    I have a lot of colleagues that lunchwalk for 30 minutes every day or a couple of days a week. I never did that because I exercise in the morning and walk Bella in the evening. But now she’s injured I might reconsider that.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s a great tip! Getting up and just walking over to people instead of email or chat or the phone gets you out of the chair and moving. That’s a good reminder. I need to do that. I rely on G-chat way too much when I can just go talk to someone!

      Oh no, I hope Bella is ok. What happened?

  4. Manda

    This is a really interesting commentary on our modern life. I used to work a desk job (10+ hr days, lots of computer time), and my body just felt….blah. Recently I started wearing a pedometer to my current workplace…I’ve been here 2+ years and it is no sedentary job at all (I work inpatient nursing and I’m on my feet most of the day). I’m finding I average between 3-5 miles of walking just at work. My back hurts from my job for other reasons unrelated to the walking/on my feet part, but I have to say, overall, I generally feel better. I also find I no longer sit still as a general rule, which drives my husband crazy. 🙂

    Another interesting benefit- less computer screen time (not as sedentary and I spend much less time in front of a computer too)…my eyesight is better. Less eyestrain overall.

    In some ways our modern life is fantastic. In other ways, it does us a tremendous disservice. Great post.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I love that you are seeing so many benefits and wow! 3-5 miles a day just walking around the office? That’s fantastic!

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