Lucas Ball, aka Pigmie, recently launched a cool personal experiment. This latest undertaking goes beyond ordinary everyday life. He decided that for one week, he would forgo sitting altogether. This decision was a result of his growing realization of the negative health effects associated with excessive sedentary time. We designed the experience not just to improve our physical endurance. Instead, we wanted to explore productivity levels as well as happiness and emotional well-being.
For the next seven days Ball was willing to commit to the following non-negotiable rules. He gave himself the right to be in a horizontal position for eight hours a day, at night, but no other time while awake. He pledged to walk more errands instead of hopping in the car. He challenged himself to workout without stopping for rest. To aid his mission, Ball used a standing desk, which he discovered made a considerable difference in his productivity.
“It really hit me in the lower legs and feet. I felt very sore and tired, and I felt like my posture while standing was starting to slack,” said Ball. His early sense of excitement at being able to stand gave way to anxiety as the days went on.
As it turned out, Ball even experienced an unexpected boost in his work production, estimating that he became about 30% more efficient on his feet. He commented, saying that not sitting, there was no time to step away and take a break. This elusive activity kept him from losing focus. It felt like the shift in focus was having a tangible, beneficial effect on his work production.
His experiment was not without challenges. Never being in a reclined position created new sensations that left him feeling terribly hungry during the day. “On top of this, I was extremely hungry. Maybe I was hungry from burning extra calories, but one thing I noticed is that when I was eating, it took my mind off of standing up,” he noted.
By the fifth day of Ball’s in-person social media experiment, the effects of his challenge were becoming more visibly taxing on his body. He experienced a very pronounced hunchback effect that changed his posture. At night, he lay awake for hours, trying and failing to work out the soreness that accumulated over the course of the week.
“It looks like I’m starting to really form this slouched-over position, especially in the upper back,” Ball commented on the changes he observed in his body.
At first you revel in higher output and better gut health. Ball calls these standing benefits “faster and smoother,” but before long the harmful effects of standing without break begin to outweigh the benefits. By Day 5, he was the one calling the shots on ending the challenge early. He found that although the experience taught him a lot, it highlighted the importance of offsetting movement with moments of stillness.
As demonstrated above, prolonged sitting and lack of physical activity have been correlated with obesity and a cluster of obesity-related conditions. We spoke to Ball about his experience and what it means for the future of health. He added, “Sitting for such prolonged amounts of time can result in back pain, spinal dysfunction, joint degeneration, poor posture in the upper back, neck and shoulders, as well as vascular problems in the legs.”
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