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Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

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Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#21

Post by arbuge »

I personally think that walking desks are a bit impractical and rather extreme. However I did install a standing desk in my office which has made a noticeable difference in my (working) life. I don't use the desktop there as my primary machine - I still have my regular sit down desk in another corner of the room. But I like being able to get up and walk around every now and then without interrupting my workflow.

Thing is, it's cloud technology (Dropbox, gmail, etc.) that makes it all possible. I get exactly the same picture of my work from pretty much any machine conngected to the Internet. That, and wifi. And cheap second computers...

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#22

Post by raverbashing »

goodside wrote: post #19

Keep in mind that physical exercise and mental concentration both deplete a common resource pool of glucose in the brain. There are robust, well replicated experiments that show it's significantly harder to perform any mental task while exercising. Daniel Kahneman has a great everyday demonstration of this: While walking with a friend, ask her to multiply two two-digit numbers and see if she slows down. (You can also…

Of course

Not the glicose thing really, walking uses very little energy, it would take a lot of exercise to deplete glicose, not walking slowly

but the fact that you can't concentrate while exercise is a huge deal breaker.

Not to mention the fact that while you are walking your head keeps bobbing up and down making it harder to read things.

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#23

Post by pan69 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #15
ojbyrne wrote: post #4

"I lost 3 lbs and a percent of body fat in a week" I always wonder when I see this - are other people's weights that stable? I can lose (or gain) 5-10 lb in a week without doing anything different, other than weighing myself at different times of the day, drinking more or less water, various other things.

I'm skinny, and other than the weight of the food I eat / defecate, my weight will not fluctuate at all. I can eat whatever I want, however much I want, and not gain weight. I was able to gain 5 or so pounds, but only after I ate whey everyday and did a lot of lifting. I might be able to gain if I tried some ridiculous whey / protein diet and workout regimen, but I don't care that much. However, for the past 5 years,…

Let me guess, you're in or around your mid-twenties now? Don't be surprised to find yourself waking up one day only to notice that your metabolic rate has dropped to zero.

I used to be exactly like you, then I hit 30..

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#24

Post by raverbashing »

ojbyrne wrote: post #4

"I lost 3 lbs and a percent of body fat in a week" I always wonder when I see this - are other people's weights that stable? I can lose (or gain) 5-10 lb in a week without doing anything different, other than weighing myself at different times of the day, drinking more or less water, various other things.

Ok, IIRC the maximum amount of fat you can lose in a week is around 2lb (or 1kg)

You can absolutely lose more than that, if you restrict your calories or doesn't reach macronutrient requirements you may lose lean mass.

Of course you can clock more than 2lb easily (on a first week):

- You lose muscular glycogen because of a caloric deficit - this means you also lose water

- If you weighted yourself while 'heavier' because of digestive system/bladder contents and then weighted yourself at the end of the week while relieved.

I am also skeptical of the values his armband gives for caloric expenditure.

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#25

Post by goodside »

raverbashing wrote: post #22
goodside wrote: post #19

Keep in mind that physical exercise and mental concentration both deplete a common resource pool of glucose in the brain. There are robust, well replicated experiments that show it's significantly harder to perform any mental task while exercising. Daniel Kahneman has a great everyday demonstration of this: While walking with a friend, ask her to multiply two two-digit numbers and see if she slows down. (You can also…

Of course Not the glicose thing really, walking uses very little energy, it would take a lot of exercise to deplete glicose, not walking slowly but the fact that you can't concentrate while exercise is a huge deal breaker. Not to mention the fact that while you are walking your head keeps bobbing up and down making it harder to read things.

It's not how much energy is burned in your muscles, it's how much energy is burned in your brain. Walking at any speed requires more mental processing than you'd expect, just to make sure you don't trip on your own feet. E.g., here's a study showing that even very slow walking (1.77km/hr) prevents you from typing quickly on a cell phone: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1085798

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#26

Post by gamblor956 »

raverbashing wrote: post #24
ojbyrne wrote: post #4

"I lost 3 lbs and a percent of body fat in a week" I always wonder when I see this - are other people's weights that stable? I can lose (or gain) 5-10 lb in a week without doing anything different, other than weighing myself at different times of the day, drinking more or less water, various other things.

Ok, IIRC the maximum amount of fat you can lose in a week is around 2lb (or 1kg) You can absolutely lose more than that, if you restrict your calories or doesn't reach macronutrient requirements you may lose lean mass. Of course you can clock more than 2lb easily (on a first week): - You lose muscular glycogen because of a caloric deficit - this means you also lose water - If you weighted yourself while 'heavier' bec…

2lb isn't the maximum fat you can lose in a week; it's the maximum fat you can lose safely in a week without engendering muscle loss (at non-obese weights). If you are obese or morbidly obese, you can lose significantly more than 2lb/week safely (indeed, the Biggest Loser is basically just a televised fat camp showing how this works in practice).

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#27

Post by stan_rogers »

trackofalljades wrote: post #14

I'm confused, and a little depressed, that anyone would describe four miles per hour as "a light run." Maybe, if you're four feet tall? Also, I agree with the "April Fools" question but I'm afraid the answer is "no, it's just TechCrunch."

I walk at a little over 4mph (never really lost the military 120 paces/minute cadence, but my stride is naturally longer than the regulation 30 inches), and I regularly catch and pass full-sized people who are dressed for a run and act as if they're jogging. I can't see the point of breathing harder and getting there later, let alone putting on special clothing to do so, but yes, for some people at least, 4mph is a light run.

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#28

Post by rdouble »

ojbyrne wrote: post #4

"I lost 3 lbs and a percent of body fat in a week" I always wonder when I see this - are other people's weights that stable? I can lose (or gain) 5-10 lb in a week without doing anything different, other than weighing myself at different times of the day, drinking more or less water, various other things.

5-10lbs a week is beyond what's considered a normal weight fluctuation. Either your scale is broken or you should see a doctor.

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#29

Post by ktsmith »

pan69 wrote: post #23
lotsofpulp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm skinny, and other than the weight of the food I eat / defecate, my weight will not fluctuate at all. I can eat whatever I want, however much I want, and not gain weight. I was able to gain 5 or so pounds, but only after I ate whey everyday and did a lot of lifting. I might be able to gain if I tried some ridiculous whey / protein diet and workout regimen, but I don't care that much. However, for the past 5 years,…

Let me guess, you're in or around your mid-twenties now? Don't be surprised to find yourself waking up one day only to notice that your metabolic rate has dropped to zero. I used to be exactly like you, then I hit 30..

Some of us are luckier. I'm in my mid 30's and while I've added a little belly fat and an inch to my waist nothing else has really changed. If I can stick to an exercise routine (I'm really bad at this) it all disappears very quickly.

Re: Why Every Office Should Switch To Walking Desks

#30

Post by aggie »

Walking desks are inefficient and overkill for the ergonomic concerns of desk work.

The practical solution is to have a properly adjusted [1] workstation and get up to walk around for ~5 minutes every hour. On a treadmill, you will lose more than 5 minutes due to inefficiency anyway. And the 5 minute break you take can be used productively (meet with a co-worker, make a phone call).

Having a standing desk in addition to a sitting desk and switching between them throughout the day can also be very beneficial.

The key is movement: there is no active blood flow to your spinal discs, they need movement or microtrauma will accumulate. There are also no nerve endings in your discs, so you don't feel anything until there is already serious damage.

[1] - http://www.stanford.edu/dept/EHS/prod/general/ergo/PDFs/self...

Make the adjustments on the second page as best you can in the order they are presented.

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