You'd better stand up – I have some bad news. Sitting is killing people. Even among those who exercise regularly, science is showing that prolonged periods of sitting can contribute to incidences of heart disease and diabetes.
Some people are using standing desks or treadmill desks to continue their work while staying active, but questions remain about the technology's practicality and cultural acceptance.
Scattered examples throughout government demonstrate cases where treadmill desks work well for their adopters, but a lack of widespread acceptance amid an overweight nation presents the question of why they aren't more popular.
Lifespan president Peter Schenk wrote in an email to Government Technology that sales of treadmill desks and bike desks increased 171 percent year over year since 2013, which indicates that the technology is becoming more mainstream.
“Studies keep reinforcing how movement helps prevent everything from Alzheimer's to heart disease, while offering the side benefits of being more alert and energetic,” Schenk said. “The appeal of treadmill desks is their ability to replace time spent sitting with time spent moving, without adding a single minute onto your existing schedule.”
Schenk noted that progress may be relatively slow, but because the idea of an active workplace is still in its infancy, the coming decades will likely bring more technology of which his company is on the forefront.
“After medical research showed how bad it is to be still all day, we've seen that trend flipped on its head. Now, offices are being designed to bring as much physical movement as possible into a person's day,” he said.
U.S. Air Force test supervisor George Burrell's group shares two Lifespan treadmill desks as staff members observe equipment and computers around the clock to ensure everything is working properly. The crew, which started using the desks in December 2014, has been more productive and made fewer mistakes since adopting the technology, Burrell wrote in an email to Government Technology.
“Our techs are operating computers and systems that cannot be left unattended, so they don't have an opportunity to move around much during the shift. The treadmills give them that opportunity,” Burrell wrote. “They have definitely changed the attitude and morale of the crew members. … I can't speak from a medical perspective, but I have observed that standing up and getting the blood flowing has improved the quality of work produced by the techs. They are more focused on the job at -- For more information read the original article here.
You’d better stand up – I have some bad news. Sitting is killing people. Even among those who exercise regularly, science is showing that prolonged periods of sitting can contribute to incidences of heart disease and diabetes.
Some people are using standing desks or treadmill desks to continue their work while staying active, but questions remain about the technology’s practicality and cultural acceptance.
Scattered examples throughout government demonstrate cases where treadmill desks work well for their adopters, but a lack of widespread acceptance amid an overweight nation presents the question of why they aren’t more popular.
Lifespan president Peter Schenk wrote in an email to Government Technology that sales of treadmill desks and bike desks increased 171 percent year over year since 2013, which indicates that the technology is becoming more mainstream.
“Studies keep reinforcing how movement helps prevent everything from Alzheimer’s to heart disease, while offering the side benefits of being more alert and energetic,” Schenk said. “The appeal of treadmill desks is their ability to replace time spent sitting with time spent moving, without adding a single minute onto your existing schedule.”
Schenk noted that progress may be relatively slow, but because the idea of an active workplace is still in its infancy, the coming decades will likely bring more technology of which his company is on the forefront.
“After medical research showed how bad it is to be still all day, we’ve seen that trend flipped on its head. Now, offices are being designed to bring as much physical movement as possible into a person’s day,” he said.
U.S. Air Force test supervisor George Burrell’s group shares two Lifespan treadmill desks as staff members observe equipment and computers around the clock to ensure everything is working properly. The crew, which started using the desks in December 2014, has been more productive and made fewer mistakes since adopting the technology, Burrell wrote in an email to Government Technology.
“Our techs are operating computers and systems that cannot be left unattended, so they don’t have an opportunity to move around much during the shift. The treadmills give them that opportunity,” Burrell wrote. “They have definitely changed the attitude and morale of the crew members. … I can’t speak from a medical perspective, but I have observed that standing up and getting the blood flowing has improved the quality of work produced by the techs. They are more focused on the job at — For more information read the original article here.
