How to stop your job from killing you
Oct 1, 2015, 5:55 AM | Updated: 9:20 am
Science tells us that sitting too much at work is bad for your health, but then again, so is standing. What is an office worker to do? (AP)
(AP)
Everyone knows Americans sit too much, to the point that we get fat and die. The average office worker spends a total of eight years sitting at a workstation.
And you would think that the cure for all this sitting would be, well, standing up.
Yes — you would think so. But of course when it comes to science the right answer is never what you think. And in this case it turns out that too much standing up can be just as bad as too much sitting down! It causes foot pain and makes your leg veins all gnarly.
Dr. Alan Hedge of Cornell University, is appalled at the way most of us sit at our desks.
“We call it the ‘turtle posture,'” Hedge said.
He is recommending that we office workers divide the day into half hours. And that we spend 20 minutes of each half hour sitting, then get up and stand for eight minutes, and then for the remaining two minutes, stretch and move around. Sit, stand, stretch…repeat.
I also ran across an ergonomics video which suggests that you have the company buy you a special chair as another solution. And that you switch mouse hands from time to time.
“Studies have shown that using your non-dominant hand in everyday situations can help stimulate the brain and help reduce strain,” the video suggests.
Do all these things in your cubicle and you should live forever. Provided you don’t let your job distract you.
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