Last week we poked fun at a piece of office equipment that is supposed to help people work out while sitting down.  With Ellen DeGeneres’s help, we showed how the “Hawaii Chair” is better for entertainment than for exercising.

But there really is office furniture that could help you stand up and move more throughout the workday.  A recent New York Times article (you may have to click through an ad the first time)described how some companies are making “walking workstations” the new twist in corporate fitness programs.  The article describes that there is now even a furniture manufacturer that makes a commercial version of a walking workstation (to the tune of $4,000).   Homemade versions, such as the one in the picture shown in this blog can be built for much less.  This Cooper Institute staffer cobbled together her contraption for about $700 eight years ago.

Much of the impetus behind the walking workstation comes from Dr. James Levine, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic.  He coined the term, non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, to describe any physical activity that does not include structured or programmed exercise.  In other words, NEAT includes everything from fidgeting to flinging a Frisbee® for Fido.  He found that the difference between obese people and lean people was about 2.5 hours of standing/walking per day.  Two and one-half hours!?!?  Who has that kind of time??

Dr. Levine didn’t take the challenge of finding 2.5 hours for physical activity sitting down.  Since the workplace is where most people spend the biggest chunk of their weekday (and most workers are sitting down working at computers), it seemed obvious to him that somehow, physical activity could be worked into the work day. Voila! – the walking workstation. 

So does it work?  In a recent study, Dr. Levine showed that the obese participants burned about 100 calories more per hour by working and walking at a self-selected speed than when working while seated.  Even if people only used a walkstation for one-half of their work day, that’s 400 calories burned without a trip to the gym. 

For more information on the benefits of standing, check out our earlier blog.

Let us know if you think you think a walking workstation would work at your company?