Health & Wellness

WorkSpace WorkOuts Daily Exercise and Finess Calendar

 

As we have been developing this calendar, we have come across many articles emphasizing the importance of staying active throughout each day. Below is a sample of articles explaining some of the health and wellness benefits that our daily fitness calendar can bring to you.

 

A link entitled "Sitting is Killing You" sure gets your attention!  The graphics grab you and the statistics warn of the risks associated with prolonged sitting.  A key message in the study is that 30 minutes of exercise per day isn't enough - it is important to break up long sendentary periods with exercise.

 

On the November 6, 2011 NBC5 morning show in Chicago, a doctor was on for a segment called "Stop Sitting Yourself Sick" to discuss a study that found a correlation between prolonged sitting and various cancers.  The study shows that we need to "interrupt our sitting with bursts of exercise"!  The doctor recommends getting up throughout the day and exercising every hour.  WorkSpace WorkOuts calendars provide excellent suggestions for different exercises that can easily be done right in your office!

 

An article originally published in the Washington Post was picked up by our local newspaper, the Daily Herald, on September 26th, 2011.  In the print version of "Experts offer exercise options for the deskbound", over three quarters of the page is covered with sample exercises that employees can do in their offices.  While these exercises are great examples of things that can be done in office spaces, our calendar provides a comprehensive set of daily exercise routines for an entire year that are designed to get progressively more challenging as the employee gets healthier and stronger.

 

The article titled “Sedentary jobs negate benefits of exercise: study” explains the risks associated with sitting for 7 hours a day the way many professionals do. It highlights the benefits to “people who break up their sitting time ... those that are intermittently obtaining what we call incidental physical activity, that is the light activity, those that are breaking up more throughout the day have a lower risk of diabetes." This is fascinating and EXACTLY the type of exercise program our calendar supports! The article even promotes the benefits this type of program over the benefits of a dedicated, 30-minute workout combined with prolonged sitting during the remainder of the day.

While the health issues such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are often correlated with prolonged periods of inactivity, a one doctor in a study by the American Cancer Society titled “Study Links More Time Spent Sitting to Higher Risk of Death: Risk Found to Be Independent of Physical Activity Level” was quoted as saying, ““Prolonged time spent sitting, independent of physical activity, has been shown to have important metabolic consequences…” Click on the link to read the entire article and see how our daily fitness calendar can help prolong your life.

This startling opening line, “Smoking cigarettes is the cause of so much preventable, deadly disease. But now new research shows sitting for long stretches of time may be just as dangerous,” from the HealthWatch: Sitting Vs. Smoking article sure grabs your attention. Read the article to understand the risks of sitting for prolonged periods of time and consider how our calendars can help remind people to get up and move throughout the day and give them the exercises to stretch and increase blood flow!

The article that explains “14 Proven Side Effects of Sitting All Day” hit particularly close to home for us since #6 on the list, “Herniated Disk”, was the genesis for us starting WorkSpace WorkOuts. As explained in other places on our website, one of our founders, Tina, had a herniated disk that resulted from prolonged sitting at a desk all day for many years, and our other founder, Mary, was her physical therapist after her surgery to fuse 3 vertebrae together. We both understand the importance of staying active and fit by getting up and moving periodically throughout the day, and our daily fitness calendars aid people in this effort. Read the rest of the article to see the other 13 side effects that can be avoided by using our calendar. The exercises in our calendar are designed to directly reduce side effect numbers 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 and 13 by working to strengthen and stretch muscles in these areas, and the other side effects are reduced as a byproduct of exercise in general.

NPR had a show dedicated to “Sitting All Day: Worse For You Than You Might Think” and explained that “researchers are beginning to suspect that even if you engage in regular exercise daily, it may not be enough to counteract the effects of too much sitting during the rest of the day.” The transcript explains how workers would benefit from “routine breaks” from sitting for a full day. A WorkSpace WorkOuts daily fitness calendar on your desktop is available to use whenever the opportunity arises throughout your day.

The Time article “The Dangers of Sitting at Work — and Standing” focuses on the risks associated with sitting for too long during the day and how people have taken these risks seriously. So seriously in fact that they’ve let the pendulum swing too far the other way by building desks that require the user stand all day. Ultimately, the expert quoted in the article, Alan Hedge, who directs the Human Factors and Ergonomics research and teaching programs at Cornell University, recommends to “use a sitting desk with proper ergonomic posture, but make sure that about every 20 minutes you stand up and move around for a brief period of time.” PERFECT! Stand up every 20 minutes throughout the day and do one of the three exercises on the calendar! By the end of the day, you’ll feel great, be more flexible and be ready to head home for an enjoyable evening!

• < Prev
• Next >