Like most people you are probably sitting at your comptuer reading this article.  But if you are, did you know your chair is trying to kill you?  Sounds like a bad "B" movie plot right?  "Attack of the Killer Office Chairs in 3D", I can see it now.  This startling news about your chair trying to kill you comes from a recent article in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise indicating that after examining the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over 13 years, those who sit for most of the day were 54% more likely to die of heart attacks. Check out this graphic for you stat lovers showing why and how you are doomed if you sit at your desk all day:

Courtesy of Medical Coding and Billing (a nice way to promote and drive people to your website).

Well some might call that an obvious fact, sit around all day and do not exercise equals certainly a quicker death from being obese/out of shape.  But wait, according to Peter Katzmarzyk, the lead researcher in the published findings,that statistic was true even if the people in the study were nonsmokers and regular exercisers. Yikes! Even if you do not smoke and exercise regularly, your chair can still kill you?  So what that means is it doesn’t matter how much you exercise or how well you eat. If you sit most of the day, your risk of leaving this world clutching your chest like Red Foxx always used to do on Sandford and Sons (ok I know I am old) more than doubles!  Some would say we are going to die anyway of something so why get in a fuss about it.  And if this is true there is nothing you can do about it right?

Well as always there are some inspired people that can come up with a solution to any problem, real or perceived, right?  Enter the stand up desk manufacturers to the rescue.  Stand up desk?  Never heard of it?  Well that has changed as of now. There are several manufacturers that make purely standup desk or combo desks with standup and sit down capabilities.  They all tout studies such as the one indicated here to prove their point and sell their wares.

So what are you do if you are the lowly cube dweller with no options for a standup desk?  According to Men's Health here are some quick and easy things you can do:

Strategy #1: Take two breaks an hour. Grab a drink from the water fountain. Pop over to the cube next door to say hi. Or simply stand and stretch for a minute. A European Heart Journal study of 5,000 men and women found that the quarter who took the most breaks during the day were 1.6 inches thinner than the quarter who took the least.

Strategy #2: Stand during phone calls. It may seem like a small thing but, as Hamilton told Masters: “Small choices will help move you in the right direction. . . . It all adds up, and it all matters.”

Strategy #3: Don’t write long emails. If crafting an email will take longer than 15 minutes, go talk to the person instead. Or stand up and call them.

Strategy #4: Ask HR for a standup desk. Australian researchers found that workers who log more than 6 hours of seat time a day are up to 68 percent more likely to be overweight. If you make the changes above and your waistline isn’t shrinking, a standup desk may be the answer. Make sure the screen is at arm’s length, and the top at eye level. Position the keyboard so your elbows are bent 90 degrees.

So you can get a reprieve from the Grim Reaper, just standup and move.  The life you save, may be your own.  I just stood up while posting this :)