Saturday 15 February 2014

My dreams of a treadmill desk

I've been spending far too much time sitting on my butt lately. I sit in my office all day at work and I've been spending 2-3 hours each evening working on grants or papers. On the couch. Usually with a glass of wine in hand. Relaxing, but not so great for my health or my waistline.

Anyway, in light of the lower back and sciatic nerve pain that plague me when I sit too much (I'm getting so old), and a number of recent studies that show how bad it is to sit around all day, I decided I need a treadmill desk to use at home (not for work - I don't want to be the weirdo).

I searched around for a reasonably priced desk that I could use with the treadmill I have, but there was nothing under about $700. And I'm not willing to shell out that kind of cash for something that I freely admit may be a flash-in-the-pan for me. So I decided to cobble together my own DIY version using stuff I had around the house.


Two pine boards, a game of Perfection, and a box of Mecchano later and I had a decent mock-up. My elbows are at a perfect 90° angle with my hands on the keyboard. It's actually fairly comfortable to work on. I can easily walk at 2.5 miles per hour and still type. 3 mph is too fast and I start to make a lot of mistakes, but in an evening I can easily get in 4-5 miles while I'm working. Not too bad!

I am worried that all of the looking down at the monitor will make my neck and/or back sore, so I need to figure a way to elevate the laptop and build a small shelf at elbow height to hold a keyboard. That's on the agenda this weekend.

2 comments:

  1. Karen... about the not wanting to be the weirdo part... much too late for that! I thought that you had embraced that long ago.

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  2. LOlzzz My younger sister also copies me just like this type of activities. She use to keep breaks under her table when i use my desk Buddy believe me standing desk have no just three benefits but numerous. MY backbone pain, my bulkiness, the assertiveness, laziness and many many others. Ultimately i saved some money from my salary and bought from http://www.standbyyourdesk.com/. TESCO and Amazon were also offering very attractive variety but without free shipment. Health is all of the prime concern, never compromise with your health at least.Stay healthy

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