Its a privilege to be able to earn income by satiating my hyper-active, curious mind and to discover and cannibalize content for my clients and companies. Its fun and mentally fast-paced but to be honest… its hell on my body. This is why I’m so gung-ho about health innovation – in fact one of my favorite clients is a healthcare company that builds apps and has an incredible nutrition insights API (errr, I mean to say, you’re ALL my favorite clients). So, with that in mind, here’s some of my favourite innovations to help us do what we need to do and stay healthy at the same time.
Say hello to smart ideas
First up ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to present to you the prototype ‘BAT’; the levitating wireless computer mouse by Russian designer Vadim Kibardin. This delicious piece of design consists of a floating navigator and magnetic base ring which can prevent and treat carpal tunnel syndrome (median nerve dysfunction / entrapment).
Any active computer user can be prone to this affliction and its actually quite a hot button issue with some of my friends. One friend I know who runs Kangaroom - a great flatshare search tool (but no names here of course) has gone so far as to buy a gaming joystick to ward off (or so he thinks) the possibility of contracting this debilitating wrist distress.
The ‘BAT’ aims to eliminate numbness, tingling, weakness, or muscle damage in the hand and fingers caused from over exposure to a mouse by elevating the controls to an ergonomic position.
Shut up and take my money! Sadly, this gem is not yet av available, I’m going to get in touch with Vadmin to see if I can get my hand on one of these.
Sit click and die
I live, work and breathe the internet – like many of my colleagues, so I can’t but help to
- Be fascintaed with our culture of bodily complacanecy
- Buy into the culture of innovation around making sitting down healthier
- Choose to learn and then ignore the health warnings (stupid me)
Facts about sitting still [according to inactivity researchers]
- When we sit, the electrical activity in the legs and gluteal muscles (buttocks) slows way down
- Calorie burning slows to 1 calorie per minute
- Enzymes in the blood that burn fat drop precipitously
- After two hours, good cholesterol levels can drop 20%
So what can be done
Well, you’ve got these ‘things’
But I do a lot of design work that takes precise movements of my soon-to-be carpal tunnel’d wrists, so that’s out the window. Instead, I’ve opted for a bit of tech that I wear constantly and an app that weighs on my mind incessantly.
Fuel for the sole
Late in 2012 I watched this video made by my favorite filmmaker Casey Neistat for the Nike Fuelband (I’m terribly jealous of Casey’s passion for his craft but take great pleasure in the fact that he was just as lost as the rest of us until he was in his 30s).
This video of course prompted me to part with 125 of my English pounds and splurge on a bracelet that will be my constant companion for the foreseeable future (until I get a Fitbit that is).
Like Robotcop, but with more than just my lips
The Fuelband’s purpose (for me) is twofold
- To get the electricity in my gluteal muscles flowing
- To get out of the house or office
But mainly number two, because it can be so easy to give into your addiction of the internet and sit on your ass all day (don’t do it).
I only have two friends that I compete with for daily fuel points (I have yet to change my daily goal from the suggested 2000 fuel points which you rack up from movement) but I try to make my goal everyday. This requires me to at least get out for a walk (on the days I work from home) or ride my fixie down a hill pumping my left arm wildly (I know you’ve seen me do that, its okay). As Casey said
Always the stairs, never the escalators
I’m not a ‘gym guy’
A lot of us ‘techie people’ are lazy. We are, don’t deny it. Even if we’re super skinny, we’re still fat on the inside. I know this, you know this, its a game we play but because gyms are so damned expensive, and you have to exercise to get there, then change, look at all those other sweaty people, change again, exercise to get home… all that stuff (I’m also married so I’m not interested in the gym bunnies anymore), it can be hard to do any exercise at all when not at the gym (again, no equipment, no personal trainer, no motivation). So if you’re not willing to part with £125, there’s another option (maybe even a better one) for you.
You Are Your Own Gym
Cheesy American music aside, this app is the best. At most you’ll need two chairs and a towel to exercise with your very own personal trainer for 35-45 minutes a day, four days a week. The app costs £1.25 which is 2.5% of a month’s regular gym membership and saves you about £600 a year in gym membership fees… so you know, a no-brainer.
Get it on iTunes or Google Play
You can’t be stationary anymore
Tech is finally catching up to our internet-obsessed minds and our caffeine-addled bodies. There are no excuses anymore.
You don’t want to be this guy (even if you have a deadline to meet).