Fitness and creativity

It’s no secret that exercise and physical fitness are known to boost creativity. So it should come as no surprise that the new trend in our creatively-minded office, or at least in my little corner of it, is exercise balls! I’d been thinking about replacing my office chair with an exercise ball for weeks before I finally took the plunge and bought one. People were skeptical at first (“Aren’t you going to fall off of it?”), but I highly recommend it — and everyone will be happy to know I haven’t fallen off . . . yet. And there really are benefits:

· Improves your balance

· Forces better posture and proper spine alignment

· Improves core muscles

· Boosts energy levels

A 2008 study even proved that sitting on an exercise ball burns about four more calories an hour than doing the same activity in a chair. That may not seem like a lot, but it adds up to almost 30 extra calories in a typical workday. (And I’ll take all the help I can get!) Plus, they’re a great way for us editors to “bounce” ideas off each other (credit to senior editor, Julie Gassman for that delightful pun)!

6-packs here we come!

But I think I’m about to be one-upped in terms of creative workspace. As I was blogging this morning, one of the other editors emailed me to see what I thought about her trying something called a “standing desk,” which takes the idea to a whole new level:

http://blogs.lessthandot.com/index.php/ITProfessionals/ITProcesses/trying-the-stand-up-desk

So what do you think? Does anyone else use an exercise ball or something similar? Do you have any more creativity/fitness tips? Or do you all think we’re crazy now? Let us know in the comments!