Cycle in the Office

How do you travel to work- Car, bus, train, bike, by foot? Do you think that you get enough daily exercise? If not, there may be a simple solution; ‘Portable Pedal Machines’.

CareerBuilder.com conducted a recent survey that said, ‘forty-nine percent of workers say they have gained weight at their current jobs’. With people spending increasing amounts of time sitting in front of a computer without too much physical activity, these findings aren’t surprising.

I recently came across the new invention, ‘Portable Pedal Machines'; a mini exercise bike used by office staff whilst working at their desks. This bike was invented to help combat increasing obesity rates and improve the health and fitness of people who lead physically inactive lives.

Researchers said: ‘Portable pedal machines may serve as a tool to reduce sedentary times in the work environment without necessarily influencing the sitting time necessary for performing computer-related tasks’.

According to American scientists, ‘Portable Pedal Machines’ could be used in every office space to improve the health of workers. As a test, a group of people were given bikes to trial in their offices for 1 month. They all said that they would use the bikes regularly if their employer offered them one.

However, the researchers warned that the novelty of having an exercise bike did wear off over the one month trial period and that additional motivation techniques would be required to ensure that staff continued to use them.

Pedalling while you work sounds like a great idea and relatively inexpensive. However, there are a few other more simple things we can do to improve our health whilst working at a desk, such as going for regular walks during breaks and drinking plenty of water.

Ehow have a list of instructions, titled, ‘How to stay fit at the office’. Points 1 and 2 say, ‘Bring some hand weights to work’ and ‘use your chair to do abdominal exercises’. In theory these would be great ways to stay fit at the desk. In practise, those doing this may be in danger of looking like a bit of a poser. If you don’t care, by all means, give it a go and good for you. Perhaps the rest of the office will even follow suit.