Are You Sitting Your Life Away?

I know it's Marketing Monday, but here's a different approach to brand awareness...

If you don't take better care of yourself, all the marketing in the world isn't going to help you!  Like so many of you, I sit down at my computer and I'm there for hours, often not moving from one position and hunched over the keyboard. While I know it's not healthy and I should get up every hour and walk around, it rarely happens. 

Well, recently Sheila read a couple of different articles and insisted I pay attention to my own health more than I do. I read the article she found and then went on the Internet to see what else was being said about sitting for long periods. Here are excerpts from a couple of articles I found:

From of an article on LiveScience.com
 
People who sit too much every day are at an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and shorter life spans, even if they exercise, a new study finds.

"More than one-half of an average person's day is spent being sedentary — sitting, watching television or working at a computer," Dr. David Alter, the study's senior scientist at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, said in a statement. "Our study finds that despite the health-enhancing benefits of physical activity, this alone may not be enough to reduce the risk for disease."

In another article from WebMD.com, I found this excerpt:

What health problems have too much sitting been linked to? ''It has been linked to cardiovascular events like heart attack, heart disease death, overall death, and death from cancer," says Andrea LaCroix, PhD, director of the Women's Health Center of Excellence at the University of California, San Diego.

In her recent study, she found that older women who reported the most sitting time were more likely to die during the 12-year follow up. Those sitting more than 11 hours daily were at the highest risk, she reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Sitting time has also been linked with high blood pressure, obesity, bad cholesterol, and too much belly fat.

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The picture up above is my new desk setup, complete with padded mat and I love it. I also seem to work faster, which I'm guessing has something to do with not being able to sit. However, the Varidesk lowers in seconds with two handles underneath if I want it lower and want to pull up my chair. 

It was $325 and if you go through Amazon, depending on the type of membership you have, you can even avoid the shipping costs. They've also got a few different models with drop down key board shelves etc. Just click either image to find out more about Varidesk.

I've only done one "public service" message in all these years of blogging and that was information for the ASPCA Poison Hot Line, after Molly the Wonder Dog ate a pound of chocolate! So, this is a great topic to increase awareness.

We all spend too much time at our computers and nothing is likely to change. However, what can change is the impact it has on your health and here's a terrific solution! 

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