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Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

melmagazine.com

111–120 of 135 posts

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cubes come in more than one height, are you talking about the short ones? Also, does having a standing desk stop you from talking frequent walks? Have you seen someone who advocates standing desks recommend not having any other mitigation?

>Cubes come in more than one height, are you talking about the short ones? I've never seen cubicle walls higher than ~5'. Most people (and we're talking software devs here, so men) are a fair bit taller than 5'.

I've had a couple of offices where the cube farm required me to stand on my toes to see over the top, and I'm 5'9".

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#112
> If you’re the sweaty biker type, cycling to work[...] "By cramming that hard bike seat into your perineum [you may make hemorrhoids worse and impact urine flow.]"

Though I can't stand the writing style, sitting while cycling is a real problem, especially if you're male. I bike year round here in Toronto, about 200 kms a week for most of the year, and I didn't know. It took almost a year for the ED to go away once I committed to standing while cycling 100% of the time. I was only in my late twenties when it happened and I figured it was something only old men get. I'm super happy I happened to come across a paper that talked about it.

The side benefit is that it made my arms huge and I've got real abs now.

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#113

I think a solution for this is alternating between standing and sitting desk with the recommended time interval being 20 min sitting, 8 min standing and 2 min just generally moving around. Instead of buying a transitioning desk I just hooked 3 monitors to my desktop where 2 are sitting and 1 (lg 2560px) is standing and created a small delphi app that switches the monitor for me every 30 mins. So far it has done some…

I just have a standing desk with an extra high drafter-style chair, and everything carefully adjusted so that the keyboard and monitor work for both sitting and standing.

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal proof often precedes formal proof. If the cost is low and there exists potential expected benefit it can still be rational to do it.

Sadly, it's generally quite expensive.

It doesn't have to be noticeably more expensive than a normal desk arrangement. Just get a static standing-height desk (longer legs, no special motorized stuff), and a drafter's chair with a seat adjustable to barstool height.

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#115
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, what do they say about lying in bed all day?

I've always wondered about that. It can't be good for your muscle tone, but my guess it's healthier than sitting or standing.

Well they do talk about bedsores for the bed-ridden, so I guess that's a risk

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#116
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are ways to take most pressure of your spine, while still allowing you to sanely use a mouse/keyboard (the later has to be split). It's mostly a fitted seat with a semi-fancy headrest, the latter has to be designed to keep your head from rolling to the side. Also you need slightly channeled armrests, which need to be adapted in extend/channel depth depending on how far your hands have to move. If you use a sten…

Got any examples of what this kinda of arrangement looks like? I’m having trouble visualizing

I have no idea either, but perhaps something along these lines? http://www.ergoquest.com/store/p20/Zero_Gravity_Chair_2b.htm...

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#117
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t flush baby wipes, or anything except fences or toilet paper. They clog drains and interfere with the sewage treatment process.

I sometimes use tissues when I run out of toilet paper. I hope that's not a problem ... (?)

Do you run out of toilet paper often?

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#118

This really worked for me: (A) a cheap, DIY standing desk arrangement (B) a cheap "stability cushion" to stand on so I'm neither standing totally still nor doing some repetitive exercise-machine (C) squatty-potty (off-brand, DIY options are fine, lilypad or nature's platform style for better real-deal)

Concerning point (C): I've found pooping with your feet on your tippy toes like a ballerina also does the trick (while still sitting down of course) to achieve the elevation of your legs to be in more of a squat position when pooping. If you ever go to China and have to squat to poop, that's also a good catalyst to finding the right squat position to best suit you.

Although that's certainly better than nothing, it's really not the full deal at all. Even the squatty-potty which is way beyond just tip-toes is only about half-squatting. I've compared and the full squat is the real deal.

People who want to do it (even in prep for a China trip) better work on simply spending time squatting in general. Apparently, westerners with sit-toilets actually lose the flexibility to do a relaxed, flat-footed squat at all.

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#119
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t flush baby wipes, or anything except fences or toilet paper. They clog drains and interfere with the sewage treatment process.

I sometimes use tissues when I run out of toilet paper. I hope that's not a problem ... (?)

Buy backup TP to your TP

Re: Office Life Is Destroying Your Butt

#120
post #53

Toilet paper might also be causing hemorrhoids. Consider that our bodies were not evolved to use toilet paper, and that hemorrhoids are virtually unheard of in third-world countries that lack TP. (I haven't confirmed that latter claim. It's just something I read once, somewhere.) Anyone who's been sick and had to go to the loo multiple times in a row will notice how painful it becomes. I'm not sure it would be painfu…

Copper deficiency combined with pressure causes them.
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