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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

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!

1 comment:

Craig Phillips said...

Im getting one! I had one a long while ago. Forget about the exercise balls!

The most important thing is to keep moving. Us desk types can do so much damage being sedentary at work. Another bad is varicose veins! When you don't use your leg muscles at your desk the veins have to do all the work. Do it too long and the valves in your veins bust and you get varicose veins!!! UGH. So I get up a lot, every save, I do calf pumps and leg raises and crunches, and bouncing is really good too.

I am an illustrator so I log a lot of time at the desk. These things really help!

Great blog!
Craig