Health-Chair Reform

From NPR online…

Health-Chair Reform: Walk, Don't Sit At Your Desk

by Eliza Barclay

11:19 am, April 27, 2011

Most Americans have their behinds glued to a chair for a good eight hours a day. Or more. Our expanding waistlines, sluggish metabolisms, and hunched shoulders are ready evidence of where we spend our time, as NPR's Patti Neighmond reported on Morning Edition this week.

But a backlash is brewing to the ossified desk setup. And the treadmill desk is gaining a particularly loyal following complete with an active social networking community for those who've eschewed the chair. Some companies have installed treadmill desks for their employees: SALO, a Minneapolis human resources company, has 10 walking workstations throughout the office. Health care giant Humana has done the same.

And Shots learned that a Norfolk, Virginia real estate company is considering a similar move, inspired by senior vice president Tom Johnson, 41, who recently installed one in his office after reading about the health benefits on the Internet.

Johnson, like many treadmill desk converts, says that his chair didn't just restrict his natural inclination to move all day – it also made him less creative and productive. "It's almost like sitting in chair mentally dumbs me down," Johnson told Shots. "And when I get up I'm bent over like a crooked stick."

Read on here.