Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Sitting for long periods of time is the cause of 4% of deaths worldwide -- ScienceDaily

Sitting for long periods of time is the cause of 4% of deaths worldwide -- ScienceDaily:



The next time you wrap up your work day and realize you've been sitting in front of the computer for almost eight straight hours, maybe you won't feel so proud of yourself. A new study, conducted in 54 countries around the world, declares that 3.8% of all deaths are due to the fact that society spends more than three hours a day sitting down.



Un-Sit Your Life http://tinyurl.com/un-sit-your-life

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Walk and Talk: Walking Meetings Gain Popularity


Two to three people talking as they do laps of office hallways may get to be a more common sight. Such walking meetings in the workplace are shown to have “physical and mental benefits of being more mobile at work.”

Benefits include:
• Accruing steps to reach a goal on wearable technology such as FitBit.
  • Expending more calories (15 minutes of walking burns 56 calories while sitting at a laptop expends 20 and standing 22)
  • Walking meeting participants are less likely to miss work for health reasons.
  • “… walking for as little as 15 minutes a day can add up to 3 years to life expectancy.”
  • Spurring more ideas: “Creative output increases by an average of 60% when people are walking …”
  • People are more relaxed and generate more ideas.

Tips for walking meetings include:
  • Meet with 2 or 3 people
  • Set a time, 30 minutes or less
  • Go at comfortable speed
  • Inform the boss
  • Walk in a park, outdoors or around the office.

Are there other times you could walk during the workday? “Meetings, phone calls and email have come to consume more than 90% of the working time of managers and some other workers, such as consultants. Many of these meetings and calls could be conducted while walking, experts say.”

New businesses are springing up to combat sedentary behavior in the workplace such as StepJockey of London which promotes use of stairs for businesses in large office buildings.

Bachman, Rachel, “The Genius of a Walk-and-Talk,” Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2016, p. D1

Un-Sit Your Life http://tinyurl.com/un-sit-your-life



Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The Office Walk-and-Talk Really Works - WSJ

The Office Walk-and-Talk Really Works - WSJ: The Office Walk-and-Talk Really Works



The health benefits are real for people who regularly take walking meetings at working

Benefits of Walking: Why The Greatest Minds Take Long Walks

Benefits of Walking: Why The Greatest Minds Take Long Walks: Why Everyone From Beethoven, Goethe, Dickens, Darwin To Steve Jobs Took Long Walks and Why You Should Too



One day, when Marc Andreessen, the money man behind such tech giants as Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga, was out driving around his home in Palo Alto, California, he nearly hit a crazy old man crossing the street.

Looking back at the fool he had nearly run over he noticed the trademark blue jeans and black turtle neck. “Oh my god! I almost hit Steve Jobs!” he thought to himself.