Walking While you Work. Would you do it?

Being the lone creative director/writer at Jennings and the father of soon-to-be 12-and 10-year olds, my schedule’s pretty hectic at home and work. But I try to walk four miles a day at least three days a week. Takes about an hour at a time and does wonders for my mental health. I assume it’s doing good things for my physical health, too.

I also like to take walks at lunch when the weather’s not too hot or cold, but I’d never really thought about the possibility of literally walking while I work.

So when I read this recent article by Susan Orlean in The New Yorker about treadmill desks and how companies like Google, Aetna and institutions like Arizona State University have started offering them to employees, it got me thinking, “Would I do this?”

The article included some pretty scary statistics: According to a 2006 study by an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society, men who sit for six hours or more daily have an over-all death rate 20% higher than men who sit for three hours or less.” And “women who sit more than six hours a day die at a rate that’s 40% higher than that for women who move more.”

If your company offered you the option, would you take it? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Read the article here: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/05/20/130520fa_fact_orlean