Walking On The Job: Treadmill Desks | Neon Tommy

Walking On The Job: Treadmill Desks | Neon Tommy.

Working a nine-to-five job can be draining, especially if you’re sitting down for the majority of the day. Feeling exhausted isn’t the worst of it–heart disease, diabetes and obesity arecorrelated with individuals who don’t get enough exercise or live asedentary lifestyle.

Fortunately for some business men and women, companies like Intel, Googleand Microsoft are adopting a special type of equipment that gets their employees moving as they work. Enter the treadmill desk, a hybrid between a treadmill and a desk.

Unlike your average treadmill, a treadmill desk doesn’t have handles but instead a flat surface at the top of the machine where you can place your laptop or paperwork. The speeds are slow–they range from one to three mph. The low-impact speeds actually help with weight loss, promote blood flow and improve your overall mood.

Dr. James Levine, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic, created the first treadmill desk in 1996. For the first model, Dr. Levine simply placed a bedside hospital tray over a $400 treadmill. Companies have adapted his original idea and now make treadmill desks that range in price from $800 to a whopping $5000.

Some people opt for homemade versions, where they simply add raised tables to an already-purchased machine: an ideal solution for those who work from home.

Susan Orlean, a New Yorker staff writer, describes her homemade treadmill desk in an NPRinterview: “It’s a bit of an ungainly looking thing… I have a normal desk and then I have a kind of platform that sits on it and my computer sits on that platform… I stand on the treadmill, and I walk and I work on my computer, and I do phone calls, and I read and I do all the things that I normally do.”

Celebrities such as Jimmy Kimmel and Al Roker are also fans of treadmill desks.

LifeSpan is one of the few companies that carries treadmill desks. They currently have nine different models. In addition to their treadmill desks, LifeSpan also makes bike desks where you can pedal as you work.

Obviously, not all companies are equipped with treadmill desks. It’s good practice to incorporate a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day, either before or after your work day.

Susy Guerrero | October 3, 2013 | 6:54 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Helping our Local United Way

At SBM we have always had a commitment to our community. We participate in numerous fundraisers and projects that contribute to the betterment of our communities. This year we added a new program that would increase the awareness of our community’s needs. So in the second half of 2012 SBM decided to use a portion of the proceeds of our sales of our private label copy paper as our means of raising funds for all United Ways in our selling area. We designed our carton labels to show commitment to this campaign. The United Way logo is proudly displayed on each carton showing the commitment SBM has to helping our local United Ways. We then had our staff promote the paper and the campaign to our existing customers. (This paper is the same great paper we have sold for years, but with a new label.)

Our customers embraced the promotion and support of their United Way. We tallied our sales and calculated the proceeds for your United Way. It is with great pleasure that we were able to present the United Way of Whiteside County with over $870 to use on office supplies, break room, and janitorial supplies from our online ordering site at www.callsbm.com. In all SBM was able to obtain proceeds for 12 are United Ways.

Wendy Johnson (SBM President) presents Russ Siefken (Executive Director of the United Way of Whiteside County) with SBM’s United Way Paper Campaign Certificate.

 

 

Are you ready for the NEW YEAR?

2 things you must remember to do:

BACK UP ALL YOUR BUSINESS AND PERSONAL DATA

Back up all your important files, including images and music. This is one thing that most folks
forget to do. If we take lessons from recent hurricanes and other weather disasters where a
business or personal computer can be destroyed in a blink of an eye, the loss is not the $1000+ computer that can be replaced. What cannot be replaced is the priceless data, business/personal records, pictures and music that one compiled over years.
There are many ways to back up your system. Most common are the portable hard drives which can be kept in a fire safe in your office. For a larger enterprise, tape backup is usually the best solution. There are now also services called “Cloud backup services” where you transmit your important files to a series of highly protected server facilities with redundant systems to ensure your data is accessible at all times and fully protected.
The important thing to remember is to back up regularly and if you are using a portable device, make sure you have a fire safe where you can keep that drive safe.

REMEMBER TO SHRED ALL OLD FILES

Shredding confidential information can protect you and your business from security breaches and identity theft. Shredding will also keep you in compliance with the new HIPAA Privacy and Security regulations.

Don’t forget to shred all those unsolicited offers for credit, these can be targets for identity thieves.

When choosing a shredder, knowing how much you usually need to shred and how often, will help you purchase a unit that will do that work. The lowest cost device is not always the best solution.