North Carolina ranks 17th in the nation in overall obesity rates with 29.6 percent of our adult population classified as obese.
Unfortunately, there are no reliable, established state statistics for adult activity levels, which is a large part of the problem according to recent studies out of Stanford University which established inactivity as the primary culprit causing obesity in America.
Americans spent more than $2.4 billion on diet programs and another $14 billion on weight loss supplements last year yet are more obese now than ever. Many hold to the belief that the supersizing of America’s diet is the culprit and point to a generation of slovenly, lazy overeaters who are placing our state and nation’s overall health at risk. Science says we should not be so fast to condemn ourselves.
The Stanford study documents a precipitous decline in physical activity over past decades and an increase in BMI (Body Mass Index) levels set against caloric intake levels that have remained virtually unchanged. It ain’t the food, it’s the chair.
Health experts have established the myriad risks of sitting in an office all day, now equating it on the same level as smoking; however, many employers remain in the dark as to the damage wrought on employees forced into cubicles throughout the day and the added pounds that mount annually.
The innovators behind the first affordable treadmill desk (trekdesk.com) thought they might have a solution. In 2008, nearly everyone thought it was a ludicrous idea. Seven years later the concept of walking while working has been accepted as a significant option in the fight against diseases caused by sedentary lifestyles.
Now an improved version is on the market, the TrekDesk II, a combination desk that can be used as a regular desk, a standing desk, a sit-to-stand desk, or a motion desk (treadmills, steppers, ellipticals) and changes as an individual’s needs and appetites for motion change. This allows employees to ease into moving more during the day in the event they are uncertain about their abilities to walk all day with a treadmill desk.
There’s an alternative for those who do not have a Trek Desk I or II. It’s called Exercise. Walk. Work out at the gym. Cut off the television. Join a Silver Sneakers class. You might be surprised the dfference that even a little exercise provides.