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"  Sitting is killing you. If the reports are to be believed, all that time you spend working while sitting down will shave precious years off your life expectancy. Medical Billing &amp;amp;amp; Coding issued a gloomy report last year that said &amp;quot;sitting 6 or more hours a day makes you 40 percent likelier to die within 15 years than someone who sits less than 3 hours a day.&amp;quot; Partly as a result of all this sitting bashing, standing desks have begun to creep into workplaces around the country. And now some companies are doing that trend one better by building treadmill desks. What better way to extend your lifespan than walking all day at a slow pace (usually between 0.8 and 1.2 miles per hour) while you tap away at your keyboard on the desk above?  Eager to get moving, we decided to try one: the top-of-the-line $1299 LifeSpan Fitness TR1200-DT Treadmill Desk. The Good The TR1200-DT is a solidly made machine consisting of a desktop apparatus that comes separate from the treadmill itself. The desk is simple to put together, but it&amp;#039;s a two-person job to lift the heavy desktop onto the heavy steel legs. The desktop itself is 46.5 inches wide and 31 inches deep, with plenty of room to accommodate your computer, monitor, and pretty much anything you&amp;#039;d need to get your work done.  It also includes two large soft foam armrests, which make a big difference over a long workday. An added bonus is the adjustable height of the desktop, which is made to accommodate someone as short as four foot ten and as tall as six foot eight. The adjustment mechanism needs work (more on that later), but it&amp;#039;s still crucial to have that range of height adjustment. The controls are easily accessible and there&amp;#039;s even a convenient little shelf in the back of the desktop to store your cables and maybe an external hard drive or two. The treadmill itself is comfortable and has a large (20 x 56 inch) walking surface, so you don&amp;#039;t have to worry about falling off while you&amp;#039;re paying attention to your laptop screen. It has just the right amount of bounce and cushion, and the 2.25-hp high torque motor keeps it running for at least 6 hours (and even more in my tests) with no worries about the motor burning out or overheating from constant use. It&amp;#039;s extremely quiet so there&amp;#039;s no threat of distractions during conference calls or Skype sessions. I spent a few weeks walking while working on the TR1200-DT. While I didn&amp;#039;t lose any weight (though I might have if I kept at it) I did feel a marked improvement in my energy level throughout the day. Instead of hitting the wall at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and wanting to take a nap, I felt more awake, energized, and ready to tackle a busy afternoon. The real question about this gadget/furniture, however, is: How difficult it is to actually work while using the treadmill desk? It&amp;#039;s surprisingly fun and mostly simple. The adjustable height of the desk makes it easy to find an area that&amp;#039;s both comfortable for typing and also for staring straight ahead at your screen, while the armrests ensure that your arms don&amp;#039;t get too tired. It might take a few days to get accustomed to walking while your fingers and eyes do your work, but after those first couple days on the treadmill desk, you barely even know you&amp;#039;re walking anymore. It simply becomes muscle memory, and you&amp;#039;re suddenly getting a little exercise without much extra effort. I wrote this article while walking on the treadmill\u2014typing is just as easy as it would be if you were seated at your desk. The slow, even speed keeps you from bouncing and the armrests ensure that your arms, hands, and fingers stay put while tapping away at your keyboard. Even talking on the phone or videoconferencing isn&amp;#039;t an issue. The slow pace of the treadmill won&amp;#039;t leave you huffing and puffing. The Bad The downsides of the LifeSpan start with the treadmill desk&amp;#039;s massive size. Yes, I listed the huge desktop as a positive above, and it is if space isn&amp;#039;t a premium. But if you&amp;#039;re confined to a small office or workspace, the big treadmill desk is unwieldy. I switched back to my ordinary workstation after this test, but if it weren&amp;#039;t for the swath of space the treadmill desk consumes in my office, I might have become a full convert. Another issue with the TR1200-DT in particular is the height-adjustment mechanism. There&amp;#039;s really no practical way to adjust the height of the desk by yourself; it&amp;#039;s a two-person job nearly every time you want to make an adjustment. The weight might make the thing stable and sturdy, but if you want to take the desktop up or down a notch (especially if more than one person will be using the workspace), you&amp;#039;re going to need a partner to help lift the desk while the other pulls out the adjustment knobs. In terms of workability, the only issue that arose for me was working with the trackpad on my Apple MacBook Pro. Apple users know that the trackpads in their laptops are some of the most responsive and fantastic around, but using the treadmill desk caused me to sweat just so slightly. Obviously, I wasn&amp;#039;t dripping from the slow walk, but the tiny bit of moisture interfered with the trackpad just enough to be annoying. Finally, there&amp;#039;s the pure physicality of standing and walking all day long. Transitioning from sitting during an entire 8-hour workday to standing during that time can be grueling on your body, even if you&amp;#039;re walking slowly. In addition to checking with your doctor before you start using the treadmill desk, I recommend easing into the experience, starting with 1- or 2-hour chunks of work walking and gradually increasing the duration. Admittedly, I&amp;#039;m a fairly sedentary guy and I probably pushed myself too hard the first few days by standing for longer than I should have. The result was more energy but major lower back pain.  The Takeaway If sitting is going to kill me in 15 years or less, than I think it&amp;#039;s a great thing to get off my butt and get moving throughout the day. The treadmill desk is a fantastic way to do that. The transition to a treadmill (or even a standing desk) will leave you more energized, refreshed, and ready to tackle a hard day&amp;#039;s work. It&amp;#039;s not the perfect solution, but it&amp;#039;s certainly a step toward a healthier, happier you. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/a8170/walking-while-working-should-you-try-a-treadmill-desk-13336477/>