Receta What Is the Benefit of Using a Treadmill Desk at Work?

Many studies have shown that sitting at a computer or office desk all day raises your health risks. Is one solution to put your computer workstation on a treadmill and pacing the day away while you work?

Potential for weight loss

The study involved 15 obese office workers walking and working on a treadmill at a slow pace of 1 mile per hour at a vertical computer workstation.

They estimated they could lose 44 to 66 pounds per year (20 to 30 kilograms) if they used the treadmill workstation for two to three hours a day. That's an extreme estimate, which assumes they don't make up the calories with extra snacks or calorie-dense beverages.

In a 2013 study, 36 subjects used a treadmill desk for an average of an hour a day, losing an average of 1.4 kilograms (3.1 pounds) over the course of a year. This is a more realistic result because it shows what is more likely to happen in the real world. The subjects who were obese lost an average of 3.4 kilograms (7.5 pounds).

Treadmill Desk Use

If you want to use a best under desk treadmill for long periods of time while working, you will have to walk slowly at a pace of only one mile per hour. A normal walking pace down a hallway or street is 2.5 to 4 mph.

To prevent further problems, treadmill users should wear walking or running shoes instead of heels, dress sandals, flip-flops, or dress shoes.

Once you get used to using a treadmill desk, slowly increase your time using it. In the first week, try 15 minutes a day. See how you tolerate it. After a few days, try five-minute intervals every hour to break up your sitting time.

During the second and third weeks, increase the length of time you use it to 20 minutes and 30 minutes twice a day. If that goes well, continue to increase the duration of each use in the third and fourth weeks.

There are options 

Manufacturers of treadmills have responded by designing treadmills that fit under standing desks and treadmills with a desk surface instead of a tilted console.

Under your own standing desk, Lifespan offers a variety of treadmill desks and treadmill bases. The TR 1200-DT treadmill desk was voted the best budget treadmill in our Readers' Choice Awards two years in a row. The TR5000 DT5 treadmill desk is a Best Buy at

You can do it yourself

You might be able to slow walk while working on your computer if you already have a treadmill at home and a tablet or laptop computer. Look for a standing desk or table (like a hospital bedside table) that is the right height and extends over the treadmill if you are unable to get the right angle with your computer propped on the treadmill console.

With the help of his Treadmill Desk blog, Jay Buster lost 16 pounds in four months using a treadmill desk he built for only $49 (not including the treadmill). There are links to other blogs where people treadmill while they compute, as well as slides showing how others have done it.