Treadmill Desk

Posted on September 19, 2008
Filed Under Chief Blogging Officer

I am a big fan of efficiency and multi-tasking, and of course as a Fit Fueler I exercise every day and it is somewhat time consuming, though I enjoy it. It has occurred to me that exercising while you are working would be a good way to maximize your time. There are ergonomic exercises that you can do at your desk, you can have some hand weights nearby, and there are even some yoga poses that you can execute while sitting in your chair at work, and those are efficient ways to get some exercise while you are at your desk.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow get in our aerobic exercise while we were working? Well there are people who are doing just that with treadmill desks. Yesterday I saw a story about it on Yahoo! and it really looks like a great idea.

The treadmill desk is the brainchild of Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic. He learned through his research that average subjects burned about 100 calories more per hour when walking very slowly, about one mile per hour, on a treadmill that was built into their work station than they would if they were sitting in a chair. Dr. Levine did the math, and he claims that if an individual was to spend eight hours a day at their treadmill desk rather than in a chair, they would lose 57 pounds per year.

So that means that a 171 pound person would disappear completely in three years!

Check out this Good Morning America piece featuring Dr. Levine.