You know the feeling, you’ve been sitting all day and you feel like your butt somehow miraculously has become 50 lbs heaver and you can hardly move.  Trouble is for many of us this sensation does not lessen as you transition from your desk to your car to that coveted spot on the sofa in front of the TV. Yup. I'm guilty. The syndrome is called being a "desk potato" and I was surprised that although the research initially saw was new with further investigation I found a similar article from 1997.  So although it isn’t new my guess is that in all these years is hasn’t improved much.

The newer study showed eight out of ten office workers admit they feel like “desk potatoes” and only walk away from their chairs to go to the bathroom or get a drink. Researchers found that today there are millions of workers settle in at their desks at 9am, and rarely leave their seats until they head home at 5pm. Most claim they are “too busy” to get up and stretch their legs.

And almost seven in ten even said they often have days when the only walking they do is from the house to the car, car to the office – and back again. Yikes!

Here are a few things they say we can do to help ourselves:

  1. Walk over to colleagues instead of calling or emailing
  2. Take the stairs instead of the elevator
  3. Go to the printer each time you print
  4. Stand up and move around in meetings
  5. Make a point of stretching or moving at your desk every 15 – 30 mins
  6. Do Butt squeezes while you work.
  7. Intentionally sit up straight
  8. Keep your feet firmly on the floor

More From WWMJ Ellsworth Maine