Neither Sitting Nor Standing

I jerry-rigged a standing workstation at work a few months ago. I put the twin flat screen monitors and keyboard on a shelf that was the right height to look directly at the screens and type on the keyboard fairly ergonomically. I read somewhere that a standing workstation is better for health and comfort than sitting at a desk. I don’t find the standing workstation to be perfectly comfortable, but it is definitely better than sitting. My lower back gets a little stiff if I stand in one place too long, but when I sit in one place too long, I have even more issues, with leg discomfort and hunching my shoulders.

I want to say the average person burns 65 more calories a day at a standing workstation. If I had my druthers, I would have a walking or biking workstation, where I could actually move and burn more calories while on the job. This would probably help with the lower back stiffness. When I go to the gym and use the treadmill or exercise bike, I often watch Coursera video lectures on topics I am interested in or read Kindle books. I would have no problem exercising while working. I would just worry about getting the keyboard sweaty.

In truth, I don’t like sitting or standing at work. I want to be moving. Maybe I need to consider a career in fitness training or lifestyle coaching. My life is very good, so I think I have the cred to offer lifestyle advice. But it’s really pretty simple and I don't think it is that hard to do. The basics are as follows (I may have missed a couple things):

1. Avoid debt. Debt is slavery and ruins lives.

2. Eat a healthy, whole food diet. The Mediterranean or Paleolithic diets are good options. Avoid processed foods, dairy, refined grains and empty carbs. Don’t worry about meat and fat too much, just make sure it is healthy (organic or game meats, good fats like olive oil).

3. Exercise. I prefer passive exercise, like walking to the grocery store, riding my bike to work, lifting heavy music equipment when I play shows with my band. But if passive exercise isn’t an option for you, do active exercise (go to the gym or walk on a treadmill, etc.) as early in the day as you can. You get busy later in the day, so if you wait to exercise, the time tends to get away from you or you get too tired out to exercise. Morning workouts also energize you for a good part of the day and make your brain work better and stay alert. Science proved this some time ago.

4. Get good sleep and rest often.

5. Avoid negative people. This one isn’t always obvious, but negative or overly dramatic people will suck the life force right out of you.

6. Don’t smoke, take drugs, or drink too much alcohol. Obvious stuff. There is no high better than life, provided you follow these guidelines. Exercise can give you a natural endorphin high that makes everything feel better. Now, if you are a teenager, you aren't going to listen to any adults. I know this. So experiment. But then realize these things are considered really dumb by everyone except losers and Millenials, and move on.

7. Avoid stress. This often goes hand in hand with many of the above. Your mind and body are like a vessel and this vessel can only hold a finite amount of stress (such as financial stress due to debt or personal stress due to negative people or physical stress due to smoking and poor diet and lack of exercise) before it spills over and causes health problems. Diet and exercise increase the volume of this vessel allowing you to handle stress better. Good sleep helps empty the vessel before it gets too full. Science has proven that stress is really the leading killer of people, because it causes the body to release stress hormones that damage bodily functions. Because stress is caused by all of the above, all of the above are killers.