This post is a discussion of my heart rate while doing sedentary computer tasks at work.
After spending the last two hours at my desk, reading yet another boring technical memorandum, I finally blinked and decided to checked my heart rate on my new Mio Motiva Petite heart rate monitor.
I was shocked to find the display showing 62 bmps (beats-per minute)! This number really does not mean much until you see that it is only 32% of my max heart rate. 32%! That is only a little higher than my resting heart rate when I wake up each morning. And since my eyes are a little dried, that tells me that I barely even blinked the last 2 hours.
For all my body knows, I could have been asleep for the amount of calories that I am burning sitting on my butt in front to the computer monitor. Ok, I always known that I am a mouse potato, but this is detrimental to my health!
How many calories am I burning when I am reading in front of the computer monitor?
Googling the internet, I found that on average:
sleeping = 60 calories burn per hour
reading or TV watching = 70 calories burn per hour
So for the last 2 hours, I have only burned a measly of 150 calories! That is not even the large Fuji apple I ate for lunch!
And when you put it into the context of how many hours we sit in front of the computer each day, no wonder we are all get fat. We are awake, but our bodies think we are asleep in terms of calorie burn!
Enough of this. I am standing up. At least that would my heart rate up to 71 bpm.
Until next time and thanks for stopping by Small Steps to Health.
Photo by: Ingorrr.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I wonder if there is a study looking into high stress jobs and calorie burn. I would much rather sleep than work too! If something makes me healthier than it must be worth doing, haha
Brians last blog post……My First Spur of the Moment Race
@Sagan – Your desk must be a good height. I usually sit on an exercise ball when I am at home instead of an office chair. I once made the suggestion that I bring in my exercise ball at work. That suggestion was shot down pretty quickly, too much liability for your employer for allowing that. There is a reason why there are so many lawyers in this country.
@Brian – I second that. If you ever find a job that lets you sleep at work, let me know.
I always stand at my computer instead of sit. We spend far too much time keeping our bodies at rest in this society!
Sagans last blog post……Life Lessons: Learning how to cook
See, I knew it was a good work out to surf the web. When I google I think I must have a heart rate of like 80 beats per minute.
@dental – yeah, all of us bloggers have heart rates of athletes.
thanks for the comment dental.
@asithi – Wow, asithi, you are very fast in your replies. So nice to see a blog owner who actually keeps up with the blog. Keep pumping out those interesting posts.
@dental – answering comments is always the easy part for me, that is just like talker. And I am a talker in real life. The hard part is trying to make my posts make sense. As for interesting posts, with only a 2.5 months before the wedding, I am not sure I can oblige. But it is nice to have blogging friends to step in to help with guest posting.
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