Lady Artisan Discussion 1 on Staying in Shape

Those of us who work sedentary jobs, especially if the job requires a lot of brain energy, have our work cut out for us to stay in shape.

What Lady Artisan Has Learned

There is a physiological reason why those who do intellectual yet sedentary work tend to gain weight. It has to do with brain energy. Sitting in a chair and working does not burn many calories. Yet the brain uses glucose as if you were working a physically demanding job. Low glucose leads to hunger. To refuel, you need to eat more calories than your body has burned.

What Lady Artisan Does To Keep In Shape

Taking care of your health and weight takes planning when you work a sedentary job. There are a number of ways to manage weight and fitness when your job compels you to eat more calories than you burn. This blog post talks about the standing work station.

Lady Artisan Uses Standing Work Stations

For Your Computer

Standing work stations allow you to burn calories as you work. Lady Artisan first read about these standing work stations online. The Mayo clinic has created a treadmill that allows you to work on the computer as you slowly walk. Over the course of a day about 900 calories beyond what would be burned by sitting and working are burned on this treadmill.

The treadmills are expensive. You might want to try what Lady Artisan has done. Office stores have keyboard and laptop adjustable stands that allow you to adjust the working height of your equipment. Try moving your monitor to a shelf or wall that puts it at face level. Put your keyboard on the adjustable stand so that you can stand while you work with your body in an ergonomically correct position. If you have back problems the standing work station can eliminate the pain that results from a sitting work station.

This is the mayo clinic link on the treadmill work station.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/treadmill-desk/MM00706

When using your standing work station at the computer shift your feet or walk in place. You can do this by keeping your feet on the ground and gently lift your heals, alternating feet, as if you are walking. Use those short periods when you are waiting for a page to load or program to open to jog in place or stretch your body.

For Your Art

Set up your easel, sculpture stand, or drawing table so that you can stand while you work. Standing has the benefit not only of helping you to keep your body at a healthy weight, but reduces the strain on muscles and joints that result in pain or overuse injuries.

This page provides information on how to set up a standing work station based on the type of activity you do. http://www.scif.com/safety/ergomatters/StandingGuidelines.html

Working on creative projects like a drawing requires precision that body movement will prevent. Stop frequently to stretch, change position, or do a minute of running in place. This will not only help you to stay fit, but can prevent the overuse injuries that are common to artists.

Next Lady Artisan Discussion

Next Lady Artisan will discuss how to fit tiny fat burning workouts into your work routine.

Your Work Station

Share with the readers of this blog how using a standing work station has worked for you, or if you would like to try one for the first time. If there are any obstacles to your use of a standing work station tell us what those are. Lady Artisan or one of her blog followers might have an idea to help you out.