Getting Started With Slow But Steady Adjustments
Migrating to the walking desk was relatively easy: I just plopped my laptop and monitor down on the squarish 46-inch desk and got to work. The intuitive interface lets you choose several tracking mechanisms for calorie burn and distance.
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The first day I couldn’t walk more than an hour at a time before I felt like I was losing concentration. It also takes some getting used to walking like a Tyrannosaurus rex (arms tucked-in and elbows bent at the keyboard). At first, I would work for an hour walking, and then sit for 30 minutes. The first day I walked about four hours. Now I only rest once a day. It also took a bit to develop the musculature in my upper back to support raised arms for hours on end. This is no longer a problem.
After experimenting with different speeds, I now vary between .8 and 1.2, picking up speed in the late morning/early afternoon to offset the natural fatigue that precedes the morning news rush. Every so often I have to lean on my elbows or straddle the rails to take a break.
Burning More Calories
While it’s intuitive to think that walking for an extra 5 to 8 hours a day would burn more calories, recent scientific evidence suggested otherwise. A study of “exergames” – video games that require full-body movement – found “no evidence that children receiving the active video games were more active in general, or at any time, than children receiving the inactive video games,” concluded the research published in Pediatrics. “When you prescribe increased physical activity, overall activity remains the same because the subjects compensate by reducing other physical activities during the day,” explained author Anthony Barnett to The New York Times.
ve video games,” concluded the research published in Pediatrics. “When you prescribe increased physical activity, overall activity remains the same because the subjects compensate by reducing other physical activities during the day,” explained author Anthony Barnett to The New York Times.
