Efficiency Vs an active lifestyle - can we have both?

Hi all,

 Let me give you two scenarios of active lifestyles, see if any aspects sound familiar:

1) Sarah - Works in an office environment, pressured by targets and deadlines and so organises her daily tasks to be as time efficient as possible, e.g. combining meetings, visits to other departments / offices, errands and 'printer runs' in the morning, then blocking all desk based work together for that afternoon. Most nights after work Sarah stops off at the local gym before driving on home.

2) Lauren - Also works in an office environment with a similar job to Sarah. However she deliberately organises her day to be as active as possible, e.g. cycling to work, taking the stairs, mixing desk-work periods up with meetings, visits, 'printer runs', breaks, all over the course of the day. She also goes out for a walk to her favourite deli every lunch time. Lauren also stops at the gym on they way home but not as often as Sarah, and so has this time to relax at home.

So.. which lifestlye is best?  Both women get their jobs and get exercise done but in different ways. For people who don't like the gyms and are beginners looking to increase and maintain general health, fitness and good posture, then perhaps Lauren's lifestyle is the most effective. If you are training in a specific way or of an advanced fitness level aswell as being more methodical in your work, then your day may be similar to Sarah's.


Can both styles co-exist, well try to think of three ways that you can realisitcally increase your general health (inc posture & nutrition) tomorrow at work that won't take too much time. The implementation of these obviously depends on your job role and the amount of freedom you have with it, however you may just find these techniques increase your work perfomance as well as your health!