Next Up: Walking Meetings

First came standing desks. Now comes walking meetings. HealthDay reports on research conducted at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine suggesting that converting a single weekly meeting to a “walking meeting” may raise work-related physical activity levels of white-collar workers by 10 minutes, a good thing, and one that could help desk bound workers meet exercise goals set by the American Heart Association. During the first week of research, workers went about their normal activities, without a walking meeting. Over the second and third weeks, however, they had one weekly walking meeting lasting 30 minutes. The researchers then had meeting participants increase their moderate/vigorous physical activity from 107 minutes in the first week to 114 minutes in the second week and then to 117 minutes in the third week. The researchers believe that walking meetings could be good for morale, but yes, bad for taking notes. They recommend a sit-and-conclude time after the 30-minute walk to go over paperwork or other things that couldn’t be addressed while walking,