How Much Time Do You Spend Sitting Per Day?

June 22nd, 2012 by Pete

I’m curious because with both my job and my 2nd job/hobby running these blogs you can imagine that I spend a fair amount of time. Add a little tv/movie time once in a while, coffee with friends and you’ll quickly notice that a large portion of your life is now spent being seated. At least, that’s the case for me. And it’s certainly something that makes me worry. Why?

The stats against being seated so much are rather convincing.

An Australian study concluded that every hour spent watching tv reduced men’s life expectancy by 22 minutes, while it was only slightly better for women. There are dozens of articles that explain exactly why that is the case but I think that most of us already know. It’s not some kind of bad luck that kids are not as shape these days. It’s a result of 2 very simple problems: poor eating and lack of exercise. I would say that being seated is a major part of the exercise problem.

What Can Be Done About It?

I am absolutely trying to do my best even though it will probably need to be done a few small steps at a time.

At work:

-Getting up frequently (good for both my shape, my eyes, etc)

-Finding excuses to take a walk: lunch time, a break, going out for 10 minutes (even if it means staying 10 minutes later at the end of the day) can have a big impact on the workweek

At home:

-Adding a “standing” desk to my home office: this is still very much a project but one that I’d love to get done. I spend enough time working from home that adding a physically active aspect would be amazing:

-More sports: the challenge is finding the right times but I do think that adding a few more tennis and/or running times per month would help make a lot of difference

-Less tv: reducing the number of tv shows that I watch would clearly have a big time impact

What About You? Have You Been Spending Enough Time Exercising

Posted in Physical | 8 comments

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  • Bluenose2

    if i’m not sitting, im usually lying down.

  • Corinnanairn

    Love the desk in the pic… where from?

  • kat

    Is the desk shown a prototype or actually available on the market?

  • Sal Attwood

    Get a job as a teacher then you never get a chance to sit down during the day!

  • Baassshapshap

    I build a treadmill desk in my home office a while back, love it. For the last 3 months I have been working on customer site in the Netherlands and my health has suffered. But back home now, so back to standing :)

  • allisonjune

    I hate sports and gyms, work largely at a computer, and love to read in my free time, so yes, I spend a lot of time sitting. But I’m working on it, I’ve improvised a standing desk at home by plopping the laptop on a bookshelf, and even better, I walk almost everywhere I need to go. In my compact city, a good portion of my destinations are within a walkable 1.5 miles — gentle exercise, fresh air, time to clear my head, get to know my community and avoid burning expensive/polluting gas. It’s been a great change. 

  • http://everythingfinanceblog.com/ Charlotte @ EverythingFinance

    I too do a lot of sitting.  I’ve been painting the rooms inside my house in the evenings lately, so that’s giving me some non-sitting time.  One evening I tape the baseboards and the next I paint.  Tonight’s a paint night.  It’s exercise without really exercising.  Plus it’s immediate gratification.  It’s really getting too hot to do too much outside.

  • None

    I just modified my desk slightly at work to create a standing work station. So far my feet are killing me, but I will be getting one of those cushy mats for when I’m standing for long periods typing or assisting a client. Subtracting breakfast fast food for granola bars, having only one 7.5 ounce soda per day, exercising for 15 minutes 3 days a week (that doesn’t include the exercise doing household chores!), and adding a salad to every dinner, I’ve lost and kept off 5 pounds. Assuming I can stand for longer periods at work after purchasing the mat and increasing exercise, hopefully a few more pounds will come off and I’ll feel better. I DEFINITELY notice a huge increase in my attention to others, detail of projects, and time management at work, and surprisingly it seems more normal to answer the phone and type once you adjust to standing.