Getting Healthy While at Work

Dr. Jim Levine had conducted a study two years ago where the results shocked him. He found that 90% of overweight individuals were sitting 2.5 hours longer per day than individuals who were not considered obese. ABC Health reports that after seeing these results

“It was so staggering that Levine hasn't stopped walking since and even does his work while walking at a low speed on a treadmill.”

The concept behind this, is to introduce low intensity activity into an individuals everyday activities in order to help combat activity. In Levine’s own words

"I spend my entire work day at one mile an hour," he said. "I work at my computer at one mile an hour. I have my meetings at one mile an hour."

This past September he started on a 6 month study to determine if a “treadmill desks at work” would help with obesity. He used the SALO office as his lab, and the office staff who were interested as his subjects. His results show that “low-level activity is crucial to fighting chronic obesity.” Over the course of the 6 months, the staff lost a combined total of over 200 pounds. Levine says that individuals who have the highest success rate are those

“making a commitment to a lot of small adjustments. It's almost a matter of saying, I'm going to change my chair-based life to a dynamic and sort of more exciting life."