Workplace Hero

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Talking, Acting & Thinking Positively w/ Dr. Alessandra Wall May 12, 2017

Show notes

Guest Hero: Dr. Alessandra Wall, Ph.D. - Licensed Clinical Psychologist at Life in Focus Therapy

When negative events or mistakes happen, positive self-talk simply seeks to bring the positive out of the negative to help you do better, go further, or keep moving forward. The practice of positive self-talk is often the process that allows you to discover the hidden optimism, hope, and joy in any given situation. Along with a few other little added benefits like altering the expression of genes, strengthening areas in our frontal lobes and promoting the brain’s cognitive functioning.

A few episodes ago, we were talking about To Do Lists (find that at www.workplacehero.me/todo) and I said: “It might not seem like much, but self-talk is a really important part of our self-esteem and confidence. By working on getting more positive self-talk, you’re more likely to get things done and feel more in control of stuff that’s going on in your life.”

After that episode came out, I received three messages from listeners wanting to know more about “positive self talk” and how they can use it in the work and life.

One fellow was having trouble seeing the positive side of some major setbacks at work and felt stuck in an extremely negative loop in his head. A young woman wrote in saying that she gets stressed out way too easily and thought that positive self talk could help her. Another woman wrote in saying that she manages a large team and was wondering how she could use positive language as a motivator.

Well, I wrote back to all three of those people and told then that I would put it on the list. Well, today is when I put my money where my mouth is. Yup, today is all about language. And I don’t mean english versus Español versus Française. I mean both the positive and the negative kind of language we use on ourselves and our coworkers and how it affects all of us.

Links: Common Thought Distortions (pdf) Life in Focus (our Guest Hero's website) Using Positive Language (article by Robert Bacal) Word Can Change Your Brain (book by Andrew Newberg, M.D., and Mark Robert Waldman) How To Turn 11 Everyday Phrases from Negative to Positive (article by Elana Goldberg)

Out of Office - Work Life Balance May 05, 2017

Show notes

Hello, My Workplace Heros. Brock Armstrong here, in a totally stripped down version of the podcast today because I am currently out of the office. Actually, you can think of this episode as my podcasting Out Of Office reply.

I am spending the week at my mom’s house, visiting her, my sister, my niece and nephew and giving myself some downtime before I present at Western Canada’s first ever Podcast Summit in Calgary Alberta. I am doing a presentation of how to edit your podcast with style. And… er… I hope they don’t listen to this episode before my presentation… not exactly my best work. Ha ha!

Anyway, since I am trying to walk the walk and not just talk the talk about being a Workplace Hero, I thought I would make this podcast a quick and clear lesson on Work Life Balance.

Over at the Canadian Mental Health Association’s website they have a Work-Life Balance Quiz and I thought it would be fun to take it together.

The website asks: Do you find it difficult to balance the different roles in your life? If so, you’re not alone – 58% of Canadians report “overload” as a result of the pressures associated with work, home and family, friends, physical health, volunteer and community service.

Let’s take the quiz to see if we’re in balance. After I ask each question, make a mental note if you answered yes to the question. Keep track of how many yes-es (or agrees) you had and I will tell you at the end how well you did.

Disclaimer This is not a scientific test. Information provided is not a substitute for professional advice. If you feel that you may need advice, please consult a qualified health care professional.

1. I feel like I have little or no control over my work life 2. I regularly enjoy hobbies or interests outside of work 3. I often feel guilty because I can’t make time for everything I want to 4. I frequently feel anxious or upset because of what is happening at work 5. I usually have enough time to spend with my loved ones 6. When I’m at home, I feel relaxed and comfortable 7. I have time to do something just for me every week 8. On most days, I feel overwhelmed and over-committed 9. I rarely lose my temper at work 10. I never use all my allotted vacation days 11. I often feel exhausted – even early in the week 12. Usually, I work through my lunch break 13. I rarely miss out on important family events because of work 14. I frequently think about work when I’m not working 15. My family is frequently upset with me about how much time I spend working

Ok - now, what your score means.

0 – 5: Your life is out of balance – you need to make significant changes to find your equilibrium. But you can take control!

6 – 10: You’re keeping things under control – but only barely. Now is the time to take action before you’re knocked off balance. In case you were wondering, I scored a 9 so this is my category.

11 – 15: You’re on the right track! You’ve been able to achieve work/life balance – now, make sure you protect it

There you go! I hope you found that helpful. Now I am going to put down this computer and go play some street hockey with my sister’s kids.

Go Oilers!

I'll be back next week with a real podcast, I promise.

Shift Work Apr 28, 2017

Show notes

Hello, my law enforcement luminaries, military magnates, healthcare heavyweights, service station superstars, transportation troubadours, fire stations favourites, and call centre conquerors. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. Not yet, anyway. If I am doing my job correctly, you and I are both slowly but surely, episode by episode, becoming a Workplace Hero. You can think of me as your partner in this endeavour or maybe your information funnel, conduit… or crazy straw?

According to NSF's 2005 Sleep in America poll, 14% of North Americans take part in what is called shift work. Shift work is an employment practice designed to make use of, or provide service across, all 24 hours of the clock each day of the week (often abbreviated as 24/7). The practice typically sees the day divided into set periods of time (shifts) during which different groups of workers perform their duties.

Shift work often involves evening or night shifts, early morning shifts, and rotating shifts. Many industries rely heavily on shift work, among them is: Emergency responders & health care, Hospitality, Logistics, Manufacturing, Military, Public utilities & power, Telecommunications & media, Transportation, and Security, just to name a few.

The term "rotational shiftwork" covers a wide variety of work schedules and implies that shifts rotate or change according to a set schedule. These shifts can be either continuous, running 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, or semi-continuous, running 2 or 3 shifts per day with or without weekends.

As you probably already imagined, compared to their day shift counterparts, shift workers are more likely to suffer from insomnia as well as excessive daytime sleepiness (61% vs. 47% and 30% vs. 18% respectively).

I actually coach a shift worker over at SkywalkerFitness.ca. She is a pretty darn competitive marathon runner who works a rotational shift and we really have had to fight an uphill battle in terms of energy levels and the ability to do the prescribed workouts. There is also the challenge of keeping her feeling good and overcoming some of the hormonal fluctuations that tend to occur during night shifts. Then there are some serious issues that creep up when you’ve thrown a curve ball at your circadian rhythm like you do on a night shift.

And there have been several studies on this. Here are a few.

They did a study in the Journal of Workplace Health and Safety on the police and found that police officers who are working at night or on an evening shift basically had lower serotonin levels than their non-evening working counterparts. And serotonin is one of our measurements of happiness and also our ability to do things like be motivated to exercise. It is also very helpful in helping reduce appetite cravings.

In the International Journal of Cancer, it was reported that a woman’s risk of breast cancer increases by 30% from night shift work. And a big part of that is because of hormonal fluctuations in particular, estrogen dominance, with estrogen being a pro-growth hormone that can increase when your circadian rhythms are thrown off.

There is another study in the Science of Translational Medicine which found that night shift style work can increase your likelihood of developing diabetes or becoming obese. This was a relatively small study with only 21 individuals but it found that circadian disruption can cause some serious issues with insulin sensitivity. So that again, throws a curve ball if you’re trying to lose weight or even maintain your body weight while you’re working night shifts.

Another paper in the British Medical Journal found that working night shifts could cause you to be more likely to have a heart attack. Particularly ischemic strokes and coronary events were found to be higher in people who were working night shifts.

A paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Health Sciences found that shift workers had decreased sensitivity to leptin when working at night. Leptin is the hormone that plays a pretty significant role in regulating your weight and appetite as well as your blood sugar and insulin levels.

Working in shifts can nearly double your risk of suffering a workplace injury and that’s because of the drowsiness, the fatigue and the lack of focus that can occur when you are working with no exposure to natural light or in any situation where our brains have been ancestrally programmed that they should be asleep.

So, am I basically saying that shift workers are screwed then?

Well, I don’t wanna sound harsh but yes, to a certain extent, you have to accept the fact that if you are going to work night shifts, your hormones and metabolism are going to, as they say, take a hit.

But, the fact that you have an important and noble job or that you’re making more money per hour may outweigh many of those drawbacks. There is a risk vs. reward benefit especially if that’s how you are paying the bills and putting food on your table.

And speaking of bills and food, keep in mind the benefits of not having to grocery shop on an evening or weekend, commute during rush hour both ways, or fight the lineup at the movie theatre on a Saturday night. Having your life be upside down or backwards can have its advantages too!

Now, let’s take a closer look at the issues and what you heroic shift working maniacs can do about them.

Shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder characterized by insomnia and excessive sleepiness affecting people whose work hours overlap with the typical sleep period.

Over at sleepfoundation.org they say that while shift work does create potential productivity advantages, it also has many inherent risks. Some of the most serious and persistent problems shift workers face are frequent sleep disturbance and associated excessive sleepiness. Sleepiness and fatigue in the work place can lead to poor concentration, absenteeism, accidents, errors, injuries, and fatalities.

The issue becomes more alarming when you consider that shift workers are often employed in the most dangerous of jobs, such as firefighting, emergency medical services, law enforcement and security. Managers and policy makers who are responsible for writing and enforcing rules regarding employee work hours must address the specific issues of a 24-hour work force in order to succeed and benefit from such a labor force.

Although addressing these issues may require some investment up front for training and other measures, the bottom line is that improved sleep in workers may lead to improved productivity. In fact, to ignore the needs of the shift worker is reckless and irresponsible when you consider that billions of dollars in yearly costs, thousands of deaths, and some of the most notorious of modern catastrophes such as the failure of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the crash of the Exxon Valdez have been attributed to human fatigue.

According to the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders, shift work sleep disorder is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder. Circadian rhythm refers to the ~24hr rhythmic output of the human biological clock. It is considered a disorder because of the frequency with which people suffer from sleep disturbance and excessive sleepiness in trying to adapt to a shift work schedule.

The main complaint for people with shift work sleep disorder is excessive sleepiness. But other symptoms include: -Insomnia, -Disrupted sleep schedules, -Reduced performance, -Difficulties with personal relationships, -Irritability and depressed mood.

Unfortunately, treatment for shift work sleep disorder is limited. Both behavioural and pharmacological remedies can help alleviate symptoms but some research indicates that the body may never fully adapt to shift work, especially for those who switch to a normal slee...

Workout, Exercise or Movement Snack? w/ Ben Greenfield Apr 21, 2017

Show notes

Guest Hero: Ben Greenfield. Fitness, nutrition and human performance consultant at BenGreenfieldFitness.com

Hello, my cubicle cardio, open space sit-ups, corner office chin-ups, home den dips, and coffee shop sprinters. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am not the Workplace Hero. Nor am I the Workspace Guru, the Office Space Sage, or the Business Space Mentor. We are in this together, me and you. One podcast at a time. Improving our lives and hopefully dragging a few of our co-workers with us.

Now, as we warm-up for our main-set (do you like my athlete lingo there?), I want to thank some true heroes - the folks who have left reviews for this podcast in iTunes. Thank you to: AstridH77, TreeClown, Westcoastlistener, JW108, WallyPhD, KristenStaite, and Kdigitty108 for leaving all 5 star reviews along with some helpful feedback as well. I truly appreciate it — and, if you are a podcast listener I know you have heard this a million times - but leaving a review really does help new listeners find the podcast. Plus it makes me feel good and serves as a form of payment for the hours per week that I spend putting these episodes together. Think of it this way: if you can’t put dollars in my pocket, you can put some love in my heart.

Ok! On with the show.

I found a great list of “5 Horrible Exercise Excuses” over at wellnessmama.com and and a few more over at BreakingMuscle.com that I think sum up the top excuses that I have also heard over my years of being a Fitness Coach. They are:

Excuse #1: I’m too Busy Yes. I get that you are busy. I don’t pretend to be the busiest person in the world and I’ve even used this excuse. But I bet if you were to truly track how you use every minute of your day, you could find a spare 20 minutes… probably more. Remember in the last podcast episode at workplacehero.me/distractions how we learned that we check our smart phones 105 times per day? If we have time to check our phones every 6 minutes, surely we can get up and break a sweat occasionally too… right?

Excuse #2: It’s too Expensive If you think the only way to get fit is to join an expensive gym, buy a bunch of fancy equipment, or hire a personal trainer then, yeah it’s probably too expensive for most of us. Good news is, later in this episode you will learn that you don’t need any of that to exercise. You truly only need your body and some inspiration. And maybe an old pair of shorts.

Excuse #3: I’m in Pain Yes, this excuse does have merit if you are injured or dealing with chronic pain - you do not want to “push through it”. We here at Workplace Hero do not believe in “no pain, no gain” but most injuries can be handled appropriately with some modification, adaptation, or simply choosing a different way to exercise. If you are dealing with chronic pain you may also want to consider the very real possibility that your inactive lifestyle is contributing to or perhaps even causing the chronic pain.

Excuse #4: I Move Enough Already This was my excuse for a while too because I worked in an old building with very few washrooms and only one extremely slow elevator. I hear this excuse from new parents as well. Don’t get me wrong: If you have an active job or lifestyle that keeps you on your feet then you are doing better than a lot of people out there… but there is still something mentally and emotionally rewarding about YOU, focusing on YOUR body, through YOUR own dedicated workout - not simply as a byproduct of having hyper kids, a slavedriver boss or having to take 4 flights of stairs every time you have to pee.

Excuse #5: I Don’t Like it At the heart of so many of these excuses is this: Exercise isn’t fun. It’s boring. It’s uncomfortable. And believe me, I tried a variety of things before I found something that really “fit” for me too. It took me a while to figure it out and, get this, it keeps changing. For a while I loved running, then I rediscovered hockey, then triathlon, then you couldn’t keep me out of the pool, then obstacle courses and now I am addicted to lifting heavy stuff. There are so many options - don’t let your preconceived notions of how boring it is to pump iron or how strange you feel taking yoga stop you for digging into an evening shinny game or a lunch hour power walk.

Excuse #6: I’m Too Old No one is too old to exercise. Walking is exercise. Yoga is exercise. There are so many forms of exercise to choose from, ranging from low impact to high impact to mobility to balance to strength training. There are even classes specifically designed for seniors. A great place to start looking for classes that fit your age and ability is your local YMCA.

Excuse #7: I Have a Bad Back Unless the doctor tells you to just lay in bed, activity is the best way to keep your back limber, to strengthen it, and to prevent additional pain. Dr. Ullrich, a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon and medical director of Spine-health states “bed rest for more than a day or two can actually undermine healing.” But here is a PSA: If you suffer from back pain, see a doctor or physical therapist for a correct diagnosis, as well as for specific exercises and stretches to help alleviate pain. Don’t be a wimp but also don’t be an idiot.

Excuse #8: I Am Too Fat You have to start somewhere, right? Believing that you are too overweight to exercise is like saying you're too skinny to eat. Your body needs exercise just the way your body needs food. No matter what number you are on a scale, you can do someth ing to start the process of strengthening your bones and joints for the load that they're carrying. If you are extremely self-concious, you can workout at home. Please don’t fall into the trap of believing that exercise has to hurt or make you sweaty and out of breath to be effective. Exercise is often a matter of just moving more. It doesn’t need to be a difficult class in the gym or excessive time spent lifting weights. Start small and work your way up to more challenge and volume in activity only when you’re ready to do so.

And lastly, this has to be my favourite excuse of all. And by favourite, I don’t mean that I like it.

Excuse #9: I’m Skinny, So I Don’t Need to Exercise Gah! As a species we have to stop confusing exercise with weight loss. They are not the same thing! There are so many benefits we get from exercise - weight loss is only one and honestly, it is by far the smallest one as well. Most weight loss experts will tell you that results are 80% from diet and only 20% from exercise. Yes, lean mass is usually associated with better health, but it is not an indicator of your organ health, lipids levels, or insulin sensitivity. Exercise is not just to keep our weight down, and let’s try to to disassociate weight loss from fitness. Weight loss is a number, fitness is a process that benefits our entire body and mind.

Ok. Enough with the excuses! Let’s talk about why you would want to exercise in the first place. If it isn’t that great of a way to lose weight, what is it good for?

Well, the body is a complex thing and a lot (and I mean A LOT) happens in your body when you first start working out. Let’s take a look at just a few.

Starting with changes in your muscles, which use glucose and a thing called ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) for contraction and movement. To create more ATP, your body needs extra oxygen, so breathing increases and your heart starts pumping more blood to your muscles. Then, as you workout, tiny tears in your muscles occur and make them grow bigger and stronger as those tiny tears heal between exercise sessions.

There are also changes in your lungs. As your muscles call for more oxygen (as much as 15 times more oxygen than when you're at rest), your breathing rate increases. Once the muscles surrounding your lungs cannot move any faster, you've reached what's called your VO2 max—your...

Unwanted Distractions Apr 14, 2017

Show notes

Hello, my cubicle confusers, open space side trackers, corner office orientors, home den distractors, and coffee shop confounders. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am here, deep inside your ears, planting seeds of inspiration, to make you into a Workplace Hero. After you listen to enough of these podcast, I hope to replace the voice of your conscience - “put down that donut and get back to work - when was the last time you got up from your desk - do you really need to be looking at Facebook right now - always take the stairs.” Is that creepy? Maybe a little… anyway…

In her book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, Ann Voskamp said that “Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.” and I agree. It’s when you can truly shut out the world and focus on a problem that the complexity and confusion often falls away.

Let’s face it, everything demands our attention these days. It’s not just our family, friends and co-workers but also our phones, our email and our social media that all fight for our attention at any given moment. It can be downright overwhelming at times and makes it really challenging to get focussed and get a job done.

Yeah, I know that every generation thinks the one immediately following it is doomed but the cost of these now ingrained distractions to our personal and professional life is well documented. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine found that it takes a typical office worker 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption, and an experiment by the authors of The Plateau Effect: Getting from Stuck to Success found that interruptions decreased work accuracy by a whopping 20%. So, I am not just Grandpa Simpson shaking my fist at a cloud or telling those kids to get off my lawn - being chronically distracted is an actual problem.

Before I continue, let me interrupt you for a second… heh…

I want encourage you to sign up for the Workplace Hero email newsletter over at workplacehero.me. The sign up form is on the righthand side of the page. Please know that because I believe strongly in the idea of Inbox Zero, you will only receive an email once per week, and it will be short, to the point and easy to delete. Best of all, just for signing up, you will receive a coupon code for 10% off at the online health and fitness store, GreenfieldFitnessSystems.com. Over there they have a huge array of supplements, gear, plans, coaches and clothing that will help keep you healthy and fit. So sign up for the newsletter at workplacehero.me and get your discount code for GreenfieldFitnessSystems.com now.

Ok, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, distractions!

Over at becomingminimailst.com that have a list of 10 unconventional habits that will help you live life with less distractions:

1. Turn off smart phone notifications. Our smart phones have quickly become one of the greatest sources of distraction in our lives. The average person now checks their mobile phone a hard to believe, 150 times every day (just short of every 6 waking minutes). To limit their distractive nature, turn off all notifications (Email, Facebook, Twitter, Games, even messages, etc.) as your own default setting. As a result, you will be able to check your apps on YOUR schedule at your appointed times throughout the day, not just whenever Aunt Mabel hits reply all on the brunch chain email.

2. Read/Answer email only twice each day. Ok, maybe three times a day. When we keep our email client open all day, we surrender our attention to the most recent bidder rather than the most important. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we understand why the habit of checking email only twice/day is promoted over and over again by some of the most productive people in our world today (Michael Hyatt, Scott Belsky, Tim Ferriss). Schedule your email processing and stick to that schedule. You will feel the benefits immediately.

3. Complete 1-2 minute projects immediately. Our lives and minds are often cluttered and distracted by the many unfinished projects around us (unanswered email, household chores, financial responsibilities). Fortunately, many of these projects can be completed in far less time than we think. To live with less distraction, if a project can be completed in less than 2 minutes, just stop and get ‘er done so you won’t think about it anymore.

4. Remove physical clutter. Unnecessary clutter is a significant form of visual distraction. Consider this: everything in our eyesight subtly pulls at our attention at least a little. And the more we remove, the less visual stress and distraction we experience. Clear your desk, your walls, your counters, your computer’s desktop, and even your home of unneeded possessions. You’ll love your newfound ability to focus.

5. Clear visible, distracting digital clutter. Just like physical clutter distracts our attention, digital clutter accomplishes the same. Desktop icons, open programs, multiple browser tabs, and other visible notifications all jockey for attention in our mind. Notice the digital triggers that grab your attention and then ruthlessly remove them. Spare no one!

6. Accept and accentuate your personal rhythms. Discover the rhythms of your day to make the most of them. For example, I do my best heads-down work in the morning, afternoons work well for meetings and physical work, and evenings are set aside for my me time—leaving late evenings for entertainment, chilling, and yes guilt-free distraction. Accepting and understanding our natural rhythms to the day/week provides healthy motivation to remove distractions during our most productive parts of the day knowing there is opportunity later to indulge them

7. Establish a healthy morning routine. Henry Ward Beecher once said, “The first hour is the rudder of the day.” He was absolutely right. Go to workplacehero.me/hardstuff to hear my take on how you should start your day. Basically, begin your days on your terms apart from distraction. If possible, I suggest that you wake first in your household. Drink your coffee or fix yourself a warm breakfast while you journal or read or simply enjoy the silence. Develop a distraction-free morning routine. It will lay the foundation for a less-distracted day.

8. Cancel cable / Unplug television. If you haven’t already cut the cord, it is difficult to argue against the distracting nature of our television. Researchers tell us the average American watches 37-40 hours of television each week. There is, of course, a solution to this madness: unplug your television completely. Or at least do what I do, put the TV away (behind the couch) every morning. But if this step seems too drastic a stretch for your family, you’ll never regret the simple decision to cancel cable. Your calendar will thank you for the extra time available. Your wallet will thank you for the extra dollars. And you’ll quickly wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

9. Keep a to-do list. One of the most helpful and practical podcasts I have ever released can be found at workplacehero.me/todo. No matter how hard you try to manage yourself, new responsibilities and opportunities will surface in your mind from internal and external sources. The opportunity to quickly write down the task allows it to be quickly discarded from your mind. I use the Notes app that comes installed on all my Apple devices for my To Do list so I can add to it anytime I want to. In bed, in a meeting, on a bus, anytime! That way I can get it out of my head and on to my list.

10. Care less what other people think. The value of your life is not measured by the number of likes your Facebook post receives or the number of positive comments on your Instagram pic. Please understand, there is great value in humbly seeking opinion and appreciating the wise counsel of those who love you. But there is no value in wasting mental energy over the nega...

Low Energy w/ Hailey Rowe Apr 07, 2017

Show notes

Hello my cubicle comatose, open space snoozers, corner office coziers, home den dozers and coffee shop shut eyes. My name is Brock Armstrong and I am here to turn you into a Workplace Hero. And don’t worry, to be this type of hero, spandex is optional.

Before we slip into something more comfortable, I want to direct you to SkywalkerFitness.ca. That’s the coaching business that I run. Whether you want to run a 10k or a marathon, race in a triathlon, put on some muscle, clean up your diet, or get totally ripped, I will create a plan specifically for you. No cookie cutter one-size-fits-all programs, just 100% tailored programs that fit around your life’s commitments. And for being a Workplace Hero, I will give you a special deal on your first 3 months of coaching. Head over to SkywalkerFitness.ca and send me a note referencing this podcast so I can start building you the perfect program to meet your wellness goals.

Ok, back to the topic at hand…

Let me set the stage for you - It’s Monday morning. Once again, in a wondrous turn of events, you wake up feeling great! You had an amazing weekend of deep sleep, good food, enjoyable exercise, and aside from the beer you had with dinner on Saturday night you stuck to your diet exceptionally well. You are feeling so good that you pull out that fitted shirt that looks so good on you but you often feel too selfconscious to wear. And - yes! It looks goooood.

Your morning is going great until around 9:30 or 10:00 am when you start feeling yourself losing energy and focus. Your eyes start feeling heavy and the words start to swimming on the page.

So, you go grab yourself a second (or is it a third) cup of coffee and hunker down - but you think to yourself: How can I be so tired? I slept so well and had such a restful weekend. What the hell?

Back in the real world, I just Googled the phrase “low energy at work” and in 0.90 seconds it returned 75,600,000 results. Whoa! So it is safe to say that this is a bit of a common problem.

The search results come from big hitters like Redbull, FastCompany, Webmd and Forbes and the list goes on and on featuring titles like: 8 Unobvious Ways To Have Way More Energy At Work, Top 10 Ways to Boost Your Energy, 10 Ways to Skyrocket your Energy Levels, The Fatigue Solution: How To Increase Your Energy In Eight Easy Steps. And so on…

So why is this such an issue? Why are we seemingly such a chronically low energy bunch of loafers?

The DailyMail says that it might be because you are a perfectionist. Apparently being a perfectionist can sap someone's energy, as perfectionists spend longer than their less conscientious counterparts worrying and ruminating over their decisions.

Another reason I saw on a few websites is that you might be eating too many carbs. Filling up on pasta, bread and rice – as well as cookies, chocolate and chips - causes spikes and dips in blood sugar that leave a person dozing off when the sugar is low.

WebMD says that you might have a magnesium deficiency. They say that this mineral is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body, including breaking down glucose into energy, so when levels are even a little low, energy can drop. They suggest two delicious solutions - adding a handful of almonds, hazelnuts or cashews to your daily diet, or eating more fish, especially halibut. Yum.

A Fast Company article suggests that you need to get more movement in your day. They say that we need not yield to the Sedentary Death that awaits our constantly sat seats; we can show some derrière-relieving daring-do by having walking meetings. Ah… what?

Men’s Fitness suggests that we nix the nightcap. Alcohol prevents your body from entering REM sleep (the most restful sleep phase). So, even if you're getting plenty of sleep each night, you may not feel fully rested if you are finishing the evening off with a drinky drink. They also suggested eating more fish and nuts so there may be something to this delicious solution.

Prevention.com says that your body needs vitamin B12 to make red blood cells and keep neurons functioning properly. A B12 deficiency decreases the amount of oxygen your blood can carry through your body, leaving you with that sleeping-with-your-eyes-open feeling.

Womentowomen.com says that the problem could be inactivity. The body needs both rest and movement. When it comes to fatigue — and you may find this counterintuitive but long periods of inactivity can actually make you more tired. Think of it as a kind of atrophy: use it or lose it.

The Queen of daytime TV herself, Oprah, says that it might be your thyroid gland. Located at the base of your neck—and barely larger than the knot in a tie—the thyroid controls your body's metabolic speed by producing the hormones. If it churns out too little all the processes in your body slow down. The result: decreased endurance and a sluggish mind.

A website run by a fellow with an undeniably awesome name, Dr. Axe, suggested that we might just be dehydrated. He says that one of the first signs of dehydration is feeling tired or exhausted. That’s right – not drinking enough water could be the reason your energy levels are lacking and you feel exhausted. Because our bodies are made up of mostly water, even small dips in H2O levels are apparently enough to affect your metabolism.

One last article actually suggested that you might have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes! Tiredness, usually accompanied by sight problems, a constant thirst and passing urine frequently, as well as suffering frequent infections, could be a sign of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. Yikes!

After spending a few hours pouring through articles, studies and opinions, I decided to enlist the help of my LA based Wellness Specialist friend, Hailey Rowe, to find out what she is encountering out there in the California trenches.

Hi, my name is Hailey Rowe. I am the founder of www.theprimetimehealth.com. I’ve been in the fitness and nutrition industry for about 7 years now as a Certified Personal Trainer, Fitness Instructor, and Fitness Nutrition Specialist. I’m also a Certified Bulletproof Coach helping people to develop lifelong healthy habits. Working with people the ages of 18 to 70, I believe it’s never to too late or too early to start changing your ways.

As you probably guessed, I share many of Hailey’s views… if not her sunny disposition.

As a High Performance Coach, I work with a lot of clients who are drained from overworking & feel like their life is out of whack. I’ve noticed 3 major factors that lead to energy depletion in the workplace:

•Lack of breaks

•Multi-tasking

•Energy-zapping co-workers (AKA toxic people)

I don’t know about you guys but I am generally guilty of all three of those issues. I am a terrible multi-tasker, I have issues dealing with negativity (even via email) and I often get in the groove and don’t want to take a break. Heck right now, as I type this, my stomach is growling and it is closing in on 2:00 pm - I clearly need to take a break and eat some lunch!

Ok. While I make myself a salad, I’ll let Hailey continue:

The brain was not meant to focus for 8 hours at a time. Taking breaks is not a sign of weakness. It’s actually a good use of your time. In fact, a study in the journal Cognition shows that even brief breaks from a task can dramatically improve work endurance, focus, and productivity.

It is recommended to work in bursts of 60-90 minutes, followed by a 10-15 minute break.

The Perils of the Commute - feat. Abi Carver Mar 30, 2017

Show notes

Hello, my cubicle carpoolers, open space cyclists, corner office car shareres, home den dawdlers, and coffee shop subway riders. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. If I am doing my job correctly, I am slowly but surely, podcast by podcast, making you into a Workplace Hero. I am simply an information super highway. Heh… remember how we used to call the internet that? No? You're probably too young. Anyway…

Today's Heroic idea came from Workplace Hero, Erin Moline, who sent me an email saying "I'm in my car a lot and with traffic so heinous that I often have to focus a lot and it can be exhausting. I have my ergonomics correct in the car, but I noticed it makes me a little frazzled." And that is exactly what I plan to do with today’s episode. Remember, my Heros, that you can suggest topics you would like me to cover by sending me a note on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or by emailing podcast@workplacehero.me.

Now, as much as I hate to start the podcast off with a depressing list of horrifying stats, that is exactly what I am going to do. Sorry.

But before I do that - did you know that this podcast has an email newsletter that goes along with it? It does. And you can sign up for it at wokrplacehero.me. The form is on the righthand side of the page. Rest assured, because we believe strongly in the idea of Inbox Zero, you will only receive an email once per week, and it will be short, informative and easy to delete. Best of all, just for signing up, you will receive a coupon code for 10% off at the online health and fitness store, GreenfieldFitnessSystems.com. Over there they have a staggering array of supplements, gear, clothing along with some wacky things that will help keep you healthy and fit. So sign up for the newsletter at workplacehero.me and get your discount code now.

And now, back to how commuting impacts your mental and physical health—and don't worry, I will also let you know what you can do to offset the damage.

According to a report in USA Today, the average North American's commute is 25.5 minutes each way. That's about 51 minutes per day or about 204 hours a year spent commuting. Just to put that in perspective, researchers recently found that most adults only do 17 minutes of fitness activities per day or about 103.4 hours per year. So we are only exercising for approximately half the amount of time that we are spending commuting. Ug!

The following list is from an excellent Time.com article called, 10 Things Your Commute Does to Your Body, by Carolyn Kylstra.

1. Your Blood Sugar Rises Driving more than 10 miles each way, to and from work, is associated with higher blood sugar, according to a report written by researchers from the University School of Medicine in Saint Louis and the Cooper Institute in Dallas and published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine. And as we all know, high blood glucose levels can lead to diabetes.

2. Your Cholesterol is Higher The same report in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the 10-mile one-way drives were also associated with higher cholesterol levels among commuters. This idea is similar to what we talked about in the "To Stand or Not to Stand" podcast with Katy Bowman a few weeks ago which you can find at workplacehero.me/stand

3. Your Depression Risk Rises The researchers from the University School of Medicine in Saint Louis and the Cooper Institute in Dallas also noted in their report that people with commutes of at least 10 miles each way have a higher tendency toward depression, anxiety, and social isolation. We'll talk about how to shake that in a bit.

4. Your Anxiety Increases A newer report from the Office of National Statistics in the U.K. finds that people who commute more than half an hour to work each way report higher levels of stress and anxiety than people with shorter commutes or no commutes at all. Now, while there's not much most of us can do to shorten or eliminate our commute, we can make the most of it by doing something enjoyable during it… like listening to your favourite podcast. Jus' sayin'.

5. Your Happiness and Life Satisfaction Decline The same report from the U.K. found that people with commutes of any length experience lower life satisfaction and happiness than people with no commutes at all. Riding a bus for 30 minutes or longer was associated with the lowest levels of life satisfaction and happiness. It also resulted in the highest amount of chewing gum found stuck to the back of your pant leg when you arrive at work.

6. Your Blood Pressure Temporarily Spikes A researcher from the University of Utah set up an experiment where participants were placed in simulated driving scenarios: They were told they were late to a meeting and had a financial incentive to get to their destination quickly. Half the group was put in high-density traffic; the other half in a less congested environment. The people who drove in more intense traffic had much higher reports of stress, as well as higher blood pressure.

Now this likely goes without saying, but if you are one of those people who feel like you're always in a rush, it might be worth leaving well before rush hour—even if you arrive at work at the same time as you normally would, you'll feel less anxious. Keep listening for some breathing techniques you can use to help manage your stress level.

7. Your Blood Pressure Rises Over Time, As Well A study of 4,297 Texans found that the farther the participants lived from where they worked—the longer their commutes—the higher their blood pressure was. High blood pressure over time is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

8. Your Cardiovascular Fitness Drops The same study out of Texas found that people with longer commutes also had lower levels of cardiovascular fitness and physical activity. It's not hard to see how spending more time in sitting in traffic results in spending less time pounding the pavement or pumping iron.

9. Your Sleep Suffers The Regus Work-Life Balance Index found that people who commute for longer than 45 minutes each way reported lower sleep quality and more exhaustion than people with shorter commutes. For some tips on how to get better sleep refer to the past podcast with Dr. Tam about Air and Light at workplacehero.me/airandlight

10. Your Back Aches Spending hours a week slouched over in a car, subway or bus seat has negative consequences on your posture and your back and neck. Which is why I always recommend standing on public transit. Not only will you not nod off and miss your stop but you will also spend the entire trip firing those little stabilizer muscles and engaging your proprioceptors which can help diminish many of the physiological issues associated with sitting for long periods of time.

Not surprisingly, according to a new study by researchers at McGill University, commuters are more likely to feel happier walking to work than taking any other form of transportation.

According to a BusinessInsider.com article, a team of researchers surveyed over 3,300 students, staff and faculty members about their travel times, comfort, safety, street harassment, cost, and wait times.

The researchers found that participants were happiest when they walked, rode the train, or cycled to work — in that order.

The researchers found that participants reported lower satisfaction when they traveled by car, subway, or bus - in that order.

When researchers dug deeper into the factors that affect commuter satisfaction, they discovered that travel duration mattered a great deal. Unsurprisingly, ...

Air and Light w/ Dr. Tamsin Lewis Mar 23, 2017

Show notes

Today's Guest Hero is Dr. Tamsin Lewis. You can find her at curoseven.com or @sportiedoc on Twitter.

Hello, my cubicle conscious, open space surveyors, corner office respirators, home den inhalers, a nd coffee shop sighters. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. You see the reason the website for this podcast is www.workplacehero.me and not .com is because this podcast is about making you into a workplace hero and I want you to be reminded of that every time you visit the website, send me an email, or tell a friend about this podcast. And you will, right? Right?

Before we dive in, I want to thank everyone who, at the time of this recording, has left a review on iTunes for the podcast. On the Canadian side: Dean Dwyer, elllietown, mijustiin, cawood1 and Elliotonitunes. On the #murican side: alex arrick, tdubs530, MAR150 and ukaserex. From the bottom of my workplace casual heart, I thank you all for your support. And without sounding too needy, if your name wasn’t on the list I just read, it would really help me out if you took a minute or two to give the podcast an iTunes boost. It is a small but meaningful way to show your support for the show. Just go to workplacehero.me/itunes and you will be directed right there! Easy!

Ok, on with the topic at hand.

I was listening to a Scientific American podcast a while ago and was excited to hear that a new study (released Aug 2016) had been done on how effective plants can be at cleaning the Volatile Organic Compounds from the air. As someone who has worked in extremely tightly sealed office buildings most of my life (you gotta keep that -30 degree Alberta air out somehow) I have often had a plant or two near my desk — but was only going on a hope and a dream that they were actually providing any benefit beyond covering up some coffee stains or overzealous permanent marker manoeuvres.

The Scientific American podcast said, and I’m sure we can all agree, that Air pollution outside is easy to spot, hanging over the city, or puffing out of an exhaust pipe. But there's a lot of indoor air pollution, too, even if it's not as obvious. It's caused by volatile organic compounds or VOCs.

Vadoud Niri, an analytical chemist at the State University of New York, Oswego says that they can come from building materials like paints, carpet, adhesives, vinyl floors, varnishes, solvents, personal care products, cleaning chemicals, air freshener, and even cosmetics.

And that cosmetics part is what caught Niri's attention. One day he went to a nail salon with his wife and he noticed the smell of acetone and since he was doing air analysis at the time, he thought he might be able to do something about this issue.

Niri figured one friendly and efficient way to get rid of acetone might be with houseplants. So he reviewed decades of literature and ran his own experiment, using an airtight chamber, and eight VOCs, in concentrations similar to those found in nail salons, against five common houseplants: a jade plant, a spider plant, a bromeliad, a Caribbean tree cactus, and what’s known as a Dracaena plant.

Turns out, after a twelve-hour test, it was the bromeliad that gobbled up the most chemicals from the air. And the Dracaena beat out the others, sucking up a whopping 94 percent of the acetone. He presented the results at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, in Philadelphia.

The paper is titled: Monitoring volatile organic compound removal by common indoor plants using solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry — if you are interested in looking it up… but I will read you some of the abstract now:

Air pollution is one of the most important environmental threats to the health of the residents of all communities and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are among important air pollutants. These compounds are ubiquitous in the natural and industrialized world but are found in the highest concentrations in indoor environments. Some of the chemicals belonging to this group are benign to human health, or even necessary for normal physiological function. However, a substantial proportion of VOCs are detrimental to human health with effects ranging from dizziness and nausea to central nervous system damage, various forms of cancer, and even death. Because of the serious nature of VOCs as a health hazard, many remediation techniques are being developed. Phytoremediation, the use of plants to mitigate environmental pollution, offers one of the most practical solutions regarding cost and efficacy.

Five common plants were selected for this study. Three treatment conditions were applied to each plant to isolate active VOC uptake mechanisms; covering the base of the plant in foil, no foil, and the use of a light. Of the five plants; Guzmania lingulata showed the greatest overall VOC uptake in light treatment conditions with more than 80% removal of six of the eight target VOC compounds over a twelve-hour sampling period. All tested plants showed less than 50% removal of dichloromethane or trichloromethane over the twelve-hour sampling period.

My office now is literally littered with plants. Some of the plants from the study to clean my air and some that I just like looking at. Which in and of itself gives us some benefits as well. As the author of the study Biophilia: Does Visual Contact with Nature Impact on Health and Well-Being? said (in a rather lackluster scientific way) “It seems worthwhile to encourage interaction with plants, both outdoor and indoor, as this is likely to be a useful environmental initiative with a sound cost-benefit profile.”

Enter Dr. Tamsin Lewis (who asked me to tell you guys that she is fighting a bit of a cold so forgive her croakiness).

Yeah, I think this concept of indoor pollution is increasingly being recognized as a problem. There are two problems, the circulation of the air and the air conditioning which dries out the skin and the mucus membranes of the nose and the mouth. But it’s lack of air flow and lack of air quality, which can include things like a high content of carbon dioxide, which can effect even how we breathe, for example. So, there are lots of different parts there. It’s ventilation and really how strong the air conditioning would be in the office as well.

I am Dr. Tam, as I like to call myself, or otherwise known as @SportieDoc where you can find me on Twitter. I run a company called CuroSeven in the UK which will be relaunching as FIBR Health in a month. Essentially what I do is run a medical and wellness consultancy where we follow a functional medicine model. Where we take people’s information and data and make it meaningful and try to get people on a better path to health and longevity.

My background is a Medical Doctor “generalist” then I went into psychiatry and then after that I took time to become an elite triathlete - how that happened is a long story - but I took four years out and raced at the highest level of triathlon and Ironman. It taught me a lot about resilience, taught me a lot about physiology, taught me a lot about psychology and interpersonal relationships, and I have used all of that to change the way I approach my patient care today.

I asked Tamsin to sum up the biggest health issues that she sees arising directly from our office jobs.

So at the moment we see a lot of people that have... well the main things that I see are people with chronic low energy, I see a lot of people with low libido, I see people who just can’t stay awake in the afternoon, I see people with chronic mild pain issues, lower back pain, that sort of thing. And on a separate point many people with mood and anxiety issues which is compounded by the day to day environment in which most people, a lot of people, we have to be in an off...

To Do Lists Mar 16, 2017

Show notes

Hello cubicle counters, open space scorekeepers, corner office organizers, home den designers, and coffee shop systematizers. My name is Brock Armstrong, and I am… not the Workplace Hero. There is a good reason that the website for the podcast is workplacehero.me and not .com. I want you to be reminded that this podcast is for and about you, every time you visit. And yeah… the .com domain was already taken.

Before we get started, a little housekeeping. Did you know that there are near verbatim transcripts of all the podcasts over at www.workplacehero.me? It’s true. I know that the majority of you are listening to this podcast while you are on the bus, in your car, at the gym or otherwise not near a pen and paper - so to take the onus off of you having to try to remember the important points, I am making it easy. The only thing you need to remember from this episode is www.workplacehero.me/todo. Slick eh?

Ok, here we go!

Between your job, your exercise program, your friends, your hobbies, and pretty much everything else you want to get done, achieving your goals and nailing your deadlines is often harder than it should be. Heck, for some people just creating an efficient to-do list is a major achievement, and that is where today’s podcast comes in.

According to an article on Forbes.com, one tool many entrepreneurs use to get organized and improve focus is the To Do list. And while it can be a helpful too, they estimate that about 85% of the population is using the To Do list in a completely ineffective manner. They are using their To Do list as a measure for self-worth…and this can be a mistake.

They go one to say that many people incorrectly associate self-worth with checking things off their To Do list. They think: “If I can complete a lot of things in one day, it must mean I’ve done a good job and, therefore, I’m a good enough person. Right?” Well… yeah… we all want validation. Here’s the problem with this – it means that you’re likely going to waste your time on low impact, easy to complete tasks just to feel good about what you’ve accomplished.

How many of you have spent time on something that was easy and quick, but not very strategic? Was this because you were avoiding the harder, more impactful thing? We waste time on menial chores and tasks just to have a sense of accomplishment. Over time, this makes us much less effective at our jobs.

This is the part when I direct you back to the podcast episode I did about “Doing the Hard Stuff First”. Just go to www.workplacehero.com/hardstuff to listen to that episode.

Another mistake that the article on Forbes.com points out is that we have a tendency to create a very long To Do list that we can never complete in a single day. And then we feel bad about never getting to everything on our list. If you do this, you’re setting yourself up to fail. Forbes refers to this as “Using the To Do list as a form of torture.”

So, it is clear that we need to avoid setting our To Do list up as either a way to measure our productivity or a way to beat ourselves up. So, how do we do that?

Before I get into the suggestions of the experts, I am going to tell you my recipe for success.

First thing is that I use the Notes app that comes preinstalled on all Mac computers. The reason I use this is because it is simple, clean and most importantly it syncs across all my devices. Yeah, I am one of those guys who has an iPhone, iPad, iMac and a MacBook Pro. Hey! What can I say? I work in digital media.

The reason syncing across all devices is important is twofold. I find my stress level is much lower if I can add an item to my To Do list at the moment I think of it (even if it is the middle of the night… maybe ever especially if it is the middle of the night) and I also like to be able to knock things off the list as soon as it is complete and then check what is next up. This is all a “peace of mind” thing for me.

Some research suggests writing information by hand helps us remember it better, but if you’re like me and you last picked up a pen in 1995, don’t worry: There are tons of apps and gadgets out there for you to explore.

Next - A key ingredient to my To Do list is that it is always more than one list! By that, I mean that I have a list for today, tomorrow, the next day and so on. It is not just a never ending single list of crap that needs to get done. It is a strategic, day by day, list of what needs to get done, when it needs to get done, on the day that suits it the best. That doesn’t mean that items don’t get moved around but I try to make each day achievable.

Because I work mostly for myself right now, I even take it a step further and have certain days for certain tasks. Mondays mornings is for my coaching business, Tuesday afternoons are for video editing, Wednesdays are coding and writing days, Thursdays are catch-up or catch-all days, Fridays are podcast days. And yes, the weekends do get included on my To Do list but generally they only have items like “Go to the Gym” and “Beer with Ken” or occasionally “Finish the freakin project!” I am not a slave to that outline, but I find it helps to have a general idea of what the priority is for each day.

The next ingredient in my To Do list recipe is that I add pretty much everything I need or want to do on that day. It isn’t just a dreaded list of jobs I need to get done, but it is also a joyful list of fun things I am going to do and tasks I am somewhat ambivalent about.

For example, my To Do list for today: - Respond to email & Social Media - Go the gym 10:00 am - Do homework (I am brushing up on my French) - Download new client video files - Coaching call with Meghan 2:00 pm - Write the outline of “To Do List” episode Workplace Hero - Watch the Habs vs. Canucks game - No food after 7:00 pm

By including things watching a hockey game or reminding myself that I want to do a short fast (by not eating between dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow) I have my tasks, my work, my play and my goals all in one easy to find spot.

I won’t go too deep into this because it deserves it own episode but by including daily goals on my To Do list, I find my ability to achieve them skyrockets. When I see “Go to the gym” or “No food after dinner” every time I look at my To Do list, it simply increases my resolve to make that happen. Just make sure you word it in a positive way. As they say over at reachout.com “It might not seem like much, but self-talk is a really important part of our self-esteem and confidence. By working on getting more positive self-talk, you’re more likely to get things done and feel more in control of stuff that’s going on in your life.”

The next ingredient in this To Do list recipe is to assign an order to the list. Start the list with at least two items that absolutely must get done today, so you don’t end up reorganizing your spice rack instead of finishing a project that is due tomorrow. Even if the rest of the list gets shifted to other days, the do-or-die tasks don’t get missed.

Now many of my tasks are things that I do out of habit at particular times of the day (like answering email with my first cup of coffee - which can lead to some seriously hilarious typos), so those are easy to assign an order to. Other things like meetings or specific gym times get a time of day listed next to them. I have experimented with assigning a time of day to all of the items and that just made me mad. I like the flow of being able to reorder on the fly depending on my mood, how much time I have left in the day or which item I just plain feel like attacking at any given point. You can experiment with this one on your own. A CEO friend of mine has his day broken down into 15 minute chunks with a task assigned to each chunk. To me, that sounds like hell but he says that it keeps him sane. Each to his own, right?

The next in...

To Sit or Not To Sit w/ Katy Bowman Mar 10, 2017

Show notes

Guest Hero: Katy Bowman - Part biomechanist, part science communicator, and full-time mover at nutritiousmovement.com

Hello cubicle crouchers, open space sitters, corner office pacers, home den dancers and coffee shop squatters. My name is Brock Armstrong and I am… You’re expecting me to say “I am the Workplace Hero” but I am not. The goal of this podcast is to make you into a Workplace Hero. I am simply here to give you something to listen to on the subway.

Before we really dive in, here’s a teaser - some stats for you to be horrified at: Only 18% of adults get the total amount of physical activity recommended for good health. And 40% get no physical activity at all!

We average North Americans work more than 47 hours a week and we are sitting down for most of that time. In fact we’re sitting down more than ever before in history: 9.3 hours per day! That's more time than we spend sleeping which is 7.7 hours per night.

Before I overwhelm you with even more stats and percentages, I want to encourage you to visit SkywalkerFitness.ca. That is the coaching business that I run. Whether you are wanting to run a 10k or a marathon, race in a triathlon, pack on some muscle, clean up your diet, or get totally ripped, I will create a plan for you. And there are no cookie cutter programs allowed. Just 100% tailored programs that fit around your life’s commitments. And for being a Workplace Hero, I will give you a special deal on your first 3 months of coaching. Head over to SkywalkerFitness.ca and send me a note referencing this podcast so I can start building you the perfect program to meet your wellness goals.

And now back to some the horrifying stats…

Did you know that sitting for 6 hours (or more) per day makes you up to 40% more likely to die within 15 years than someone who sits less for than 3 hours per day? And here's the kicker – this is true even if you get regular exercise.

Humans evolved to participate in an assortment of daily movement and physical challenges. Unfortunately, the vast majority of humans aren't honouring our genes. And being a fitness enthusiast, or even a serious competitive athlete, doesn’t give you a free pass here.

Between 1980 and the year 2000, exercise rates in the UK stayed the same but sitting increased by 8% and obesity doubled.

Bluntly put - sitting on our butts is killing us and making us fat! Wait that was a strange order to say that in… let me try that again: sitting on our butts is making us fat and killing us!

Obese people on average sit for 2 and a half more hours per day than thin people. And, incidentally, 1 in 3 of us is currently obese.

Our desk jobs, commuting, watching TV, and playing video games all conspire to make us sedentary and this comfortable lifestyle takes its toll. Even those of us who exercise regularly still spend much of the workday planted in a chair in front of the computer.

The solution: Reduce our sedentary behaviors to a total of just 3 hours per day and we have the potential to increase our average life expectancy by 2 years. Awesome! Right?

Let’s look at what happens in our bodies when we sit? • Electrical activity in our leg muscles shuts off, • Calorie burning drops to only 1 calorie per minute, • Enzymes that help break down fat drop by 90%, • After 2 hours of sitting our HDL (good cholesterol) drops by 20%, • After 4 hours, our insulin effectiveness drops 24% and thus risk of diabetes rises, • After work, each extra hour of "couch time" raises all of these risks factors by another 11%.

I have a confession to make. I am one of those people who has a standing workstation. I originally bought it because I read that standing at my desk, I can burn up to 50 extra calories per hour. That is approximately 400 extra calories per workday! I rocked that standing desk in a room full of sitters and I was pretty darn proud of myself… until I met Biomechanist, Katy Bowman.

If you hang out on internet health sites, chances are you’ve read a headline that screams something like "sitting is the new smoking."

That’s Katy.

These headlines imply that sitting, like smoking, is statistically associated with numerous health issues including death from cardiovascular disease and cancer. And that it will take some time before we all wise up and quit.

I’ll let her explain her job.

As a biomechanist and kinesiologist, I help people understand that the shape of their body on the gross level (i.e. their posture) affects the shape of the cells themselves. In other words the way you have been sitting has changed the tiny parts that make up your structure; like the shape and density of your bones, the length of your muscles and tendons and the resting tension in your connective tissues. The adaptations to sitting on this deeper cellular level means that reaping the benefits of not sitting so much requires more than just swapping one static position for another. It requires an entire overhaul of the way you think about and move your body.

Standing Workers (even the stationary ones like I was when I worked behind a cash register at a liquor store) burn about 1,500 calories while at work; a person behind a desk might burn 900. This goes a long way in explaining why people gain 16 pounds within 8 months of starting a sedentary office job.

But even those with active jobs are generally engaged in repetitive tasks that only mobilize a fraction of their joints and muscles. Furthermore, the grind of physical labor can lead to assorted overuse injuries and health problems.

But ok… what it really comes down to is that you don't absolutely have to stand all day long but you should absolutely interrupt your sitting and move around as often as you can.

Back to Katy…

As a longtime proponent of the "stop sitting so much" campaign, I am thrilled that sitting is finally getting attention in the media. Research into diseases associated with sitting like cancer, aren't new. The first article I ever read in 1997 on sitting and risks of cancer was published in 1993, which means scientists, at least somewhere, have known about this relationship for at least 20 years.

In light of sitting resurgence, sitting less campaigns, healthy minded individuals (like me) have been super motivated to get out of there chairs and on to Physio balls, standing workstations (like me), and tread desks.

The options to sit less are endless so the notion that standing in one place is a solution to sitting so much reminds me of that joke about all accidents happening within 15 miles from your home. “I read that all accidents happen within 15 miles of one's house so I moved” or “I read that sitting kills so now I'm afraid to stop standing.”

Which is pretty much what I did when I was working for an email marketing firm in 2011. And… many of my coworkers followed my lead.

As I explained more deeply and my book “Move Your DNA - Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement" the sitting itself really isn't the problem. It is the repetitive use of a single position that makes us literally become ill in a litany of ways.

For example, muscles will adapt to repetitive positioning by changing their cellular make up, which in turn leads to less joint range of motion. This muscle and joint stiffness can lead to a stiffening of the arterial walls within these muscles.

Is this bumming you out? Just hang on…

The positive news is that because we've all been sitting "static" the same way for decades, changing our static positioning, i.e. standing more, can improve our health as can moving intermittently throughout the day.

Ah ha! Moving intermittently throughout the day! Now this is actionable.

When I was working for a big financial firm in downtown Toronto, I would often set an alarm on my iPhone to go off every hour, on the hour, and do pushups, o...

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