Your Office Chair is Killing You

shawns

shawns

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Feb 26, 2008
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Victoria, Canada
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I think I'll skip my next herman miller upgrade and go right to the treadmill desk:

"If you're standing around and puttering, you recruit specialized muscles designed for postural support that never tire," he says. "They're unique in that the nervous system recruits them for low-intensity activity and they're very rich in enzymes." One enzyme, lipoprotein lipase, grabs fat and cholesterol from the blood, burning the fat into energy while shifting the cholesterol from LDL (the bad kind) to HDL (the healthy kind). When you sit, the muscles are relaxed, and enzyme activity drops by 90% to 95%, leaving fat to camp out in the bloodstream. Within a couple hours of sitting, healthy cholesterol plummets by 20%.
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Your Office Chair Is Killing You - BusinessWeek
 


Sitting is a public-health risk. And exercising doesn't offset it. "People need to understand that the qualitative mechanisms of sitting are completely different from walking or exercising," says University of Missouri microbiologist Marc Hamilton. "Sitting too much is not the same as exercising too little. They do completely different things to the body."
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I knew sitting all day was bad, but didn't really consider the fact that exercising did not offset it.

<edit>added more to the quote</edit>
 
This kinda shit really scares me and makes me consider if there's anything else I can do for a living which won't lead me to a miserable existence later in life.

Anyone else feel like this?
 
I knew that fucker was up to something. After years of abuse on my part, he's finally getting his revenge. Time to put that fucker on Craigs-sgpnwrgn vr


HELP HES =0I4=T 44 NR KILLIONG MME AJKSBD AGWG4OU'BIG20
 
ayzo said:
ProTip: Leftover Starbucks cups stuffed with bubble wrap make an excellent alternative to fleshlights.
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Just be sure to stuff a rubber glove in the middle of the wrap so you don't feel the edges of the plastic :)
 
Time to plug my piece of shit... again.

Swiss Ball Seating.

I've been using a Swiss Ball instead of a desk chair for a little over a year now, and I'll never go back. It sucks sitting in the regular desk chairs in my college classrooms.

Seriously, you can get a Swiss ball for 10% of the price of a good desk chair, and it will do so much more good for you than anything else you can get, including the Embody.


1. Forces Spine Alignment. Since a Swiss ball isn't a stable surface, the body attempts to balance itself. The perfect spine posture necessary to remain steady is the easiest to balance with. Your body automatically tries to align itself with the proper, perfect spinal posture. This improves spinal health, and decreases the possibility of back pain.


2. Enhances Movement. A Swiss ball causes the user to change positions constantly to keep balance. If you were to turn 30 degrees to face a computer monitor, the body will take a new position. This reduces damage caused by prolonged seating in the same position.


3. Fitness is Always an Option. A great reason to switch to a Swiss ball instead of a desk chair is the ease of use to do exercises without having to get up. Whenever you have a wait for something, productivity and healthiness can be increased by scooting back a foot and doing some crunches. Ease of accessibility will lead to more frequent workouts.


4. Balance Improvements. Sitting on an unstable surface hours a day will improve the sense of balance, as well as fast twitch muscle fibers. The result is a better overall balance that can be observed outside of the office.


5. Welcome the Six Pack. The body uses the core, or abdominal, muscles primarily to assist in compensating for balance changes. Therefore, you are essentially getting a low-key ab workout at all times. It might not sound like a lot, or even feel like anything at all, but consider how long you'll be seated. These endless hours can build up, and essentially result in a stronger, leaner core.


6. Improves Circulation. Using a Swiss ball will assist the bloodflow to all parts of the body throughout the day. A desk chair reduces circulation to parts of the body after prolonged use.


7. A More Energetic Feeling. It has been proven that staying in one position will make you more tired. Moving around, on the other hand, gives you more energy. With a Swiss ball as a chair, you'll feel much more energetic after work is finished.


8. Burn up to 500 Calories Daily. More movement during the day equals more calories burnt. Burning 500 calories per day is equal to losing a pound of fat every week. It will help you stay fit and lose weight.

9. Extremely Cheap. Specialized, high-impact Swiss balls designed for sitting use can range $15 to $70. These figures are a fraction of what an ergonomic desk chair, which can range from $150 to $800 or more.
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Just my thoughts. And yes, the site is under construction. Hence the crappy quality.
 
Anyone have a link to a good treadmill desk?

I'd get one for the house - not sure I'd have the balls to put one in my office and actually use it all day.
 
be extremely careful with sitting for extended periods (like a normal work day) on a swiss ball if you have any sort of back issues currently or aren't in good shape.

it can aggravate problems due to lack of core strength to support yourself for extended periods and as such make problems much worse since there is no support.

not trying to knock the site- it's great for some, but I foolishly did this for 10 months thinking I was improving things yet it was misery.
 
There aren't many options. The steelcase is supposed to be good, about 4-5k and I assume the treadmill is pretty good. I didn't want to wait 6-8 weeks though so I bought one from here:

Signature Treadmill Desk | Signature 9000 Treadmill Desk | Signature Sit2Stand

It's pretty cool and I duplicated my setup on it, 4 monitors and all. The only thing is that the treadmill itself is pretty crappy and a little loud. When I get bored one weekend I'm going to go buy a better/quiter treadmill and rig it up.

Here's mine when I first set it up ...

32517685.jpg

http://www.wickedfire.com/view-source:http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6018/32517685.jpg
 
Human said:
...
I've been using a Swiss Ball instead of a desk chair for a little over a year now, and I'll never go back. It sucks sitting in the regular desk chairs in my college classrooms.
...
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100% agree. It's fantastic.
 
fuck herman miller chairs
fuck mayline chairs
recaro chairs...pshhhh, who needs em.

get the hawaii chair...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_amg-Aos4"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]

...problem solved.
 
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cryptix said:
get the hawaii chair...
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lmao! that would get annoying tho :(

Human said:
Time to plug my piece of shit... again.

Swiss Ball Seating.

I've been using a Swiss Ball instead of a desk chair for a little over a year now, and I'll never go back. It sucks sitting in the regular desk chairs in my college classrooms.
Click to expand...
sold!

I love the Hermon Miller Aeron but I've heard good things about those.. time to try it.
 
"Stand Up Desks" are what I am just about to move over to, my current setup is prone to making me have carpal tunnel bouts and the stand up desk also helps fix that.

This is where I heard about the concept:
Evolving Excellence: Stand Up Desk - Update & More Science

It's a good read from a good source. Oh and check out his stuff and anything else you can find about the lean startup, it's the current cutting edge of entrepreneurship :-)
 
Human said:
Time to plug my piece of shit... again.

Swiss Ball Seating.

I've been using a Swiss Ball instead of a desk chair for a little over a year now, and I'll never go back. It sucks sitting in the regular desk chairs in my college classrooms.

Seriously, you can get a Swiss ball for 10% of the price of a good desk chair, and it will do so much more good for you than anything else you can get, including the Embody.



Just my thoughts. And yes, the site is under construction. Hence the crappy quality.
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I can certainly understand "under construction" but the first time someone hears "sit on my Swiss Balls" you would think the website would have at least one picture of it.

Then again maybe it is better that way?
 
since many of you probably didnt read the full article and got sidetracked by the ball seats:

The best sitting alternative is perching—a half-standing position at barstool height that keeps weight on the legs and leaves the S-curve intact. Chair alternatives include the Swopper, a hybrid stool seat and the funky, high HAG Capisco chair. Standing desks and chaise longues are good options. Ball chairs, which bounce your spine into a C-shape, are not.
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