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Comment by vturner | Hacker News Reader

What other areas do people with technical backgrounds move into that don't require so much sitting? With degrees in physics and applied math, I'm not sure where I can go and not be at a desk (or take a huge hit in $$).

Just 3 years out from school, and I can definitely notice the difference in my physical health and mental agility. I have taken up gardening to get me outside and eat decently well. I can still feel the effects, scary.

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I think it's pretty hard without a radical shift in career. Your training correlates well with sitting/standing & thinking, then writing/typing things.

What worked well for me though was to be quite intentional about a few things:

* started at minimum walking to work - I know this doesn't work for everyone, but some variation (e.g. part way) might. This meant that regardless of how crazy my day got at the very least I had 1 hour of brisk walking - I moved to a 30 min walk from my office.

* got out of the office for a walk of at least 15 min at lunch, pretty much every day

* sit/stand desk and used it, changing position 4x a day usually (i.e. sit for a while, stand for a while, lunch, sit, stand)

* got intentional about some meeting scheduling. e.g. this is going to be a whiteboarding exercise, put it at 10am to break up the morning sitting.

* have a proper fitness routine, and stick to it. Could be activities you like or could be the gym or whatever, but don't let yourself "get busy" and miss too many days. It should be somewhat intense, and somehow cover core & hips & shoulders

Thanks. This is sound advice from what I see. No big spending + No career change but suddenly increases physical activity to a new level. I have piles and going to try this. I'm also 30 minutes from work but I can't walk in the morning so I'll walk back. Also going to purchase myself a sit/stand desk once I get the job change.

You have to go to the gym every day. At least 5 days a week. Heavy workout where you train intensively your upper and lower body. I do this now for about 10 years and the difference is like day and night. Both mentally and physically. The "don't have time" argument is in my opinion not valid. By exercising you gain so much more time just because you work more efficiently.

I agree with you, but I don't think this is great advice. If you tell people that aren't already physically fit that they have to do high intensity training five days per week to be healthy, they'll think it's too difficult and they won't be able/have time to do it. The best advice you can give is to start with a light 20 minutes of cardio three times per week. After getting into a routine of regular exercise they may progress to more challenging workouts.

Exercise a lot, especially focusing on cardio and strength+flexibility in your hips. Doing this massively mitigates the adverse effects from my job for me; if I stop my routine for a week or two the soreness, tightness and discomfort come roaring back.

Mind you, I'm not a health professional, but here are some ideas. Take a walk at lunch. Try hobbies that aren't simply sitting. Even something like woodworking or gardening would have one standing and moving; it's not aerobic exercise, but it's still better than sitting. If you do do woodworking, you could build a little stand for your laptop or keyboard to convert your desk into a standing desk :)

You could keep doing the work you're doing, but without the sitting: get a stand up desk (if money is an issue, you can get a cheap hand-cranked desk from Ikea) and get an under desk treadmill (harder to avoid spending at least $1k, sadly). I get in about 5 hours of walking per day this way, at 4 mph (I'm 6'2", so that's right around my typical walking speed). I feel infinitely better this way, and it's also an incredible way to burn off calories with minimal intensity.

There's no white collar job that I know of that doesn't require a lot of sitting. Even if it isn't programming, office jobs require you to sit a lot since almost everything is done by computer. The key is to take regular breaks and walk around. Exercise regularly and eat a Mediterranean diet.

If you look at some statistics (can't find it now) I seem to recall sales and marketing have lower prevalence of obesity. Meanwhile construction workers have higher. I think what matters more is less stress in a job, eating healthy and doing physical activity regularly.

Alternative explanation: overweight people don't get hired for sales and marketing jobs.

So why do construction workers who are more active still have obesity?

You'd need a wider sample of sedentary office workers than just sales and marketing to make that conclusion.

Okay I finally found the article. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/the-jobs-...

I'd say the physically active jobs are actually on the middle to upper half of the list. Transportation, warehousing, manufacturing and construction for example.

If you can work from home (big if) then you might consider looking into a standing desk + treadmill.

There are some decent options available. The "Autonomous" desk is great, I purchased JUST the legs and use an IKEA top to save money.

Now, I'm looking at the "Treadly" treadmill. Technically, this isn't an "under desk" treadmill, but it's the thinnest treadmill on the market and can be operated without the bars upright. So it's perfect for going under your desk, and then under a bed or a couch when you're not using it.

I'm curious which IKEA top you used. I also looked at the Autonomous frame, but I don't think it'll work with my existing Karlby top (25 5/8" x 74").

Uplift[0] also sells treadmills and exercise bikes specifically for standing desks. I purchased one of their desks a few months ago, and while it's a bit spendy, the quality is fantastic. I expect to be using it 15 years from now.

[0] https://www.upliftdesk.com/desk-accessories/movement-exercis...

You don't need to work from home to get a standing desk.

Just recently I got a desk which can be lifted and lowered. About one hour a day, I would lift the desk up, and have a standing desk. I also move around, especially when I have phone conferences. I even pace around the room. Although it is a small, I am able to detect a small change in my health and energy.

Thank you all for the ideas! I'm blessed to work at home and think I'll definitely look into either building (trying to improve my wood working skills) or buying a standing desk. Maybe a gym membership should be in my future too or bulking more gardens haha.

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