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8 Hour a Day Office Job, 30 Minutes of Exercise a Day Not Enough
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midwesterner85 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »I'd tackle the issue of a job where you take 2 hours of travel each way while working 10 hours. That can't be healthy psychologically.
Some of us work FT jobs with less commute (and average more like 9-9.5 hrs. / day) and are also full time grad students. Or work more than 1 job.
In that case I'd tell you I'm envious of your schedule because when I was a student my classes were all over the place and could start anywhere from 8 am to 6 pm, impossible to have a full time job with that.
When I was in the last 2 years of undergrad, I worked a FT job (many more hours than I do now), 2 PT jobs, and did contract work on the side. Classes were Sat. morning (7:30am - 1pm) or evenings (5:45pm - 10:15pm). I worked my FT job all day and some evenings / weekends. I worked my PT jobs on other evenings (until 2am-3am, whenever we got done) and on Sun. mornings (5am-1:30pm). I would do homework or contract jobs on Sun. afternoon or any evenings I didn't have class or work. Since Sat. nights were the busiest at the 1st PT job, it wasn't unusual to be there until 3am and then be at the other job at 5am. I had barely enough time to get home and shower. Fortunately, traffic is light at those times and I could make it back from the first job in 10 min. and to the 2nd job in 20 min., which still left time to shower and a few min. to eat.
Now I live in a rural area that takes much longer to travel anywhere (because of distance, not traffic). However, my graduate degree is being done online. I still have time commitment to get everything done, but the assignments are given and deadlines are never less than 2 days apart... so as long as I can find the time somewhere during that window, it works for scheduling. I found that scheduling multiple jobs / classes was soooo much easier when I lived in the city. A big part of that is the close proximity of everything.
So, how much sleep did you get?
And yeah your classes seemed to be at the light side, we had ~20 hours of classes per week at those all over the place hours and were expected to self study up to double that outside of classes. Barely anyone did that though so I'm not counting it. But for anyone that did do that, university would have been their full time job.
You are describing a typical large U.S. university, which doesn't structure courses for efficiency of students. I specifically selected schools that would maximize my ability to work and gain experience sooner. I have type 1 diabetes and this was before the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), but after HIPPA. Everyone knows about the Privacy part of HIPPA because they have to sign something to acknowledge privacy policies whenever they see a physician. However, the other P was much more important to me because without Portability, I would never have coverage for type 1 diabetes related health care expenses ever again in my life if I didn't have a group policy within 60 days of losing coverage under another group policy (co-pays were still super high). My parent's plan would kick me off at age 21, so I had to work FT before then. I started at a 2 year school 2 weeks after graduating high school and went year-round until I graduated. Because that particular school designed their associate degrees for only relevant classes, area employers recognized that as equivalent to a 4-year degree. Still, to be competitive outside the area (and generally to be competitive), I still needed a bachelor's degree. So I started working FT in my field and went through satellite campuses of another school that structured courses around working adults (so they specifically designed classes at nights and weekends for people like me). That took me from 16 hours of classes per week to 10 hours of classes per week and designed around a daytime worker's schedule. I did all the extra classes needed for a 4-year degree (I took a movies class, a class on HIV/AIDS, topography, etc. - for an accounting degree... because I had transferred all the relevant classes from the first school).
So I had to have a FT job to have a group insurance policy by the time I was 21 and specifically selected schools that would allow that to happen. I graduated with my first degree and was working FT less than 1 month after my 20th birthday.
So if my calculations are correct you had at most an average of 11 hours left every day for eating, hygiene, commute, doing homework, contract work, studying, having a life and sleeping.2 -
stevencloser wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »I'd tackle the issue of a job where you take 2 hours of travel each way while working 10 hours. That can't be healthy psychologically.
Some of us work FT jobs with less commute (and average more like 9-9.5 hrs. / day) and are also full time grad students. Or work more than 1 job.
In that case I'd tell you I'm envious of your schedule because when I was a student my classes were all over the place and could start anywhere from 8 am to 6 pm, impossible to have a full time job with that.
When I was in the last 2 years of undergrad, I worked a FT job (many more hours than I do now), 2 PT jobs, and did contract work on the side. Classes were Sat. morning (7:30am - 1pm) or evenings (5:45pm - 10:15pm). I worked my FT job all day and some evenings / weekends. I worked my PT jobs on other evenings (until 2am-3am, whenever we got done) and on Sun. mornings (5am-1:30pm). I would do homework or contract jobs on Sun. afternoon or any evenings I didn't have class or work. Since Sat. nights were the busiest at the 1st PT job, it wasn't unusual to be there until 3am and then be at the other job at 5am. I had barely enough time to get home and shower. Fortunately, traffic is light at those times and I could make it back from the first job in 10 min. and to the 2nd job in 20 min., which still left time to shower and a few min. to eat.
Now I live in a rural area that takes much longer to travel anywhere (because of distance, not traffic). However, my graduate degree is being done online. I still have time commitment to get everything done, but the assignments are given and deadlines are never less than 2 days apart... so as long as I can find the time somewhere during that window, it works for scheduling. I found that scheduling multiple jobs / classes was soooo much easier when I lived in the city. A big part of that is the close proximity of everything.
So, how much sleep did you get?
And yeah your classes seemed to be at the light side, we had ~20 hours of classes per week at those all over the place hours and were expected to self study up to double that outside of classes. Barely anyone did that though so I'm not counting it. But for anyone that did do that, university would have been their full time job.
You are describing a typical large U.S. university, which doesn't structure courses for efficiency of students. I specifically selected schools that would maximize my ability to work and gain experience sooner. I have type 1 diabetes and this was before the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), but after HIPPA. Everyone knows about the Privacy part of HIPPA because they have to sign something to acknowledge privacy policies whenever they see a physician. However, the other P was much more important to me because without Portability, I would never have coverage for type 1 diabetes related health care expenses ever again in my life if I didn't have a group policy within 60 days of losing coverage under another group policy (co-pays were still super high). My parent's plan would kick me off at age 21, so I had to work FT before then. I started at a 2 year school 2 weeks after graduating high school and went year-round until I graduated. Because that particular school designed their associate degrees for only relevant classes, area employers recognized that as equivalent to a 4-year degree. Still, to be competitive outside the area (and generally to be competitive), I still needed a bachelor's degree. So I started working FT in my field and went through satellite campuses of another school that structured courses around working adults (so they specifically designed classes at nights and weekends for people like me). That took me from 16 hours of classes per week to 10 hours of classes per week and designed around a daytime worker's schedule. I did all the extra classes needed for a 4-year degree (I took a movies class, a class on HIV/AIDS, topography, etc. - for an accounting degree... because I had transferred all the relevant classes from the first school).
So I had to have a FT job to have a group insurance policy by the time I was 21 and specifically selected schools that would allow that to happen. I graduated with my first degree and was working FT less than 1 month after my 20th birthday.
So if my calculations are correct you had at most an average of 11 hours left every day for eating, hygiene, commute, doing homework, contract work, studying, having a life and sleeping.
That is a like a high estimate, but I'm realizing "at most" is because there are some factors ignored.0 -
Oh yeah, I forgot that it was 9-9.5 per day instead of 8. Also I went with "everything was timed perfectly and there was no point at which half an hour had to be wasted because of badly placed appointments".
So, uh yeah. That doesn't sound particularly healthy.1 -
I would imaging you get a lunch hour at your job. Take 15 minutes and do something with it...
Frequently I don't. I'll grab a sandwich between meetings and eat it during the next session, or it gives me a bit of time to catch up.
It does not have to be so complicated...MeanderingMammal wrote: »I'll acknowledge that the description of the day was slightly disingenuous, I'll fit in two 1.5-2hour sessions midweek, then a 2-3 hour and a 3-4 hour session at weekends. Achieving that involves considerable financial impact, as facilitating the midweek sessions costs c£200 each, to my business.
Well the length of the sessions is driven by my objectives, essentially Marathons and Ultras.
The general point is, my circumstances aren't that unusual; long work day, long commute and limited opportunity. I'm in the fortunate position that I can support my objectives anyway without having to shoehorn in 15 minutes of low quality effort.
My original point was more that bland statements about it being easy to add another 30 minutes of activity are indeed about choice, but don't reflect the reality for many.
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stevencloser wrote: »Oh yeah, I forgot that it was 9-9.5 per day instead of 8. Also I went with "everything was timed perfectly and there was no point at which half an hour had to be wasted because of badly placed appointments".
So, uh yeah. That doesn't sound particularly healthy.
9-9.5 per day is now, that was years ago. For 9 months of the last 2 years, it was very long hours at my FT job. I didn't have time to sleep and often did not even have time to pee, no joke.0 -
I'm guilty of not doing this enough, but I think it helps if you get up and walk around for at least 5 minutes every hour. Sometimes I get so intent on getting my work done that I stayed glued to my butt in front of the computer even though I know I need to get up. I'm determined to improve.0
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DetroitDarin wrote: »What hits me most is this: Studies are crap. Everyone is born with knowledge and folks need to make better choices based on instinct. We humans want a study or authority figure to tell us what to do so we can avoid responsibility if we end up not liking the outcome.DetroitDarin wrote: »Not at the base - not at the core. The core - the foundation is simply "Want-to". Knowledge will fix nothing.
I disagree strongly, and I think you do too. I wouldn't get on an airplane somebody built using instinct and no book learning. If you had a tooth ache, would you go to a dentist who didn't have any knowledge? Really, anything important, you want knowledge, either your own or somebody else's. If it's tacos vs burgers, sure, flip a coin.2 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »I would imaging you get a lunch hour at your job. Take 15 minutes and do something with it...
Frequently I don't. I'll grab a sandwich between meetings and eat it during the next session, or it gives me a bit of time to catch up.
It does not have to be so complicated...MeanderingMammal wrote: »I'll acknowledge that the description of the day was slightly disingenuous, I'll fit in two 1.5-2hour sessions midweek, then a 2-3 hour and a 3-4 hour session at weekends. Achieving that involves considerable financial impact, as facilitating the midweek sessions costs c£200 each, to my business.
Well the length of the sessions is driven by my objectives, essentially Marathons and Ultras.
The general point is, my circumstances aren't that unusual; long work day, long commute and limited opportunity. I'm in the fortunate position that I can support my objectives anyway without having to shoehorn in 15 minutes of low quality effort.
My original point was more that bland statements about it being easy to add another 30 minutes of activity are indeed about choice, but don't reflect the reality for many.
I respectfully disagree. If it's important you will make time...1 -
2snakeswoman wrote: »I'm guilty of not doing this enough, but I think it helps if you get up and walk around for at least 5 minutes every hour. Sometimes I get so intent on getting my work done that I stayed glued to my butt in front of the computer even though I know I need to get up. I'm determined to improve.
It absolutely does...
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MeanderingMammal wrote: »I would imaging you get a lunch hour at your job. Take 15 minutes and do something with it...
Frequently I don't. I'll grab a sandwich between meetings and eat it during the next session, or it gives me a bit of time to catch up.
It does not have to be so complicated...MeanderingMammal wrote: »I'll acknowledge that the description of the day was slightly disingenuous, I'll fit in two 1.5-2hour sessions midweek, then a 2-3 hour and a 3-4 hour session at weekends. Achieving that involves considerable financial impact, as facilitating the midweek sessions costs c£200 each, to my business.
Well the length of the sessions is driven by my objectives, essentially Marathons and Ultras.
The general point is, my circumstances aren't that unusual; long work day, long commute and limited opportunity. I'm in the fortunate position that I can support my objectives anyway without having to shoehorn in 15 minutes of low quality effort.
My original point was more that bland statements about it being easy to add another 30 minutes of activity are indeed about choice, but don't reflect the reality for many.
I respectfully disagree. If it's important you will make time...
So back to a previous post. What would you suggest? New job, ditch my partner?
I'd observe that about three years ago I did try the new job option, a Supply Chain Director role about 20 minutes from home. It meant a pay cut, but it was 20 minutes from home and I could reliably be home by 1800, which gave me plenty of time to run and cycle, as well as see my partner. It took three months until I was bored to tears.
It took a disruptive lifestyle change to give me more time, and it turned out to be a very bad choice for me.
In some ways that three months gave me space to consider options, and it turned out well, giving me bandwidth to find other opportunities.
Like I've noted, I've managed to negotiate a decent deal, I'm sympathetic to those that don't have the same opportunity.
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MeanderingMammal wrote: »MeanderingMammal wrote: »I would imaging you get a lunch hour at your job. Take 15 minutes and do something with it...
Frequently I don't. I'll grab a sandwich between meetings and eat it during the next session, or it gives me a bit of time to catch up.
It does not have to be so complicated...MeanderingMammal wrote: »I'll acknowledge that the description of the day was slightly disingenuous, I'll fit in two 1.5-2hour sessions midweek, then a 2-3 hour and a 3-4 hour session at weekends. Achieving that involves considerable financial impact, as facilitating the midweek sessions costs c£200 each, to my business.
Well the length of the sessions is driven by my objectives, essentially Marathons and Ultras.
The general point is, my circumstances aren't that unusual; long work day, long commute and limited opportunity. I'm in the fortunate position that I can support my objectives anyway without having to shoehorn in 15 minutes of low quality effort.
My original point was more that bland statements about it being easy to add another 30 minutes of activity are indeed about choice, but don't reflect the reality for many.
I respectfully disagree. If it's important you will make time...
So back to a previous post. What would you suggest?
I've already made my suggestions and have no desire to have a circular conversation.
Good luck...1 -
Yes, I would definitely suggest looking for a different job. Not just so you have more time for exercise but so you have more time, period. Spending more than 50% of the 24 hours you have in a day for work and transit to and from work sucks and is suboptimal for a happy, balanced life.
Work to live don't live to work, as they say.
Constantly getting less than 5 hours of sleep is horrible for your health.4 -
I work full time in a challenging job, have two elementary school age children, and a husband that travels for work about 2-3 nights a week so I often am doing the full load of child care/activities/chauferring. I'm not complaining, just providing context.
There are literally days where the only time I sit down, other than in my car and at my desk, is after I get my kids to bed around 9 or 9:30 pm. I even often eat standing up at the island in the kitchen while I'm putting away dishes or helping kids with homework.
I used to tell myself that I didn't have time to exercise. Or that I could only exercise on weekends but then I didn't want to be away from my kids since I don't get to spend that much quality time with them during the week. Or that if I did exercise, I would be sacrificing sleep or something else equally important (home cooked meals, quality time with husband, etc). They were all excuses...
The fact of the matter is, it is about prioritizing, and it can be done. I started getting up at 5:30 am to exercise before my kids wake up - I can usually get in 30-60 minutes in the morning. As I started getting more active, losing weight, and got a FitBit, I also started working in walks at work too. A 20-30 minute walk during my lunch period after eating at my desk, sometimes if my meeting schedule will allow it I go for 10 minute walks in the morning and afternoon too. I park in the back of the parking lot at work, at the grocery store, etc. Now I have started taking the kids and the dog for a short walk in the evenings too, after dinner and before baths/bedtime. I also don't get nearly as much sleep as I used to, or as I'd like, lately it's been about 6 hours max. You know what, I'm doing just fine. I'd rather get up early and get that work out in, and get things done in the evening to have maybe one hour to hang out and watch something on TV while catching up on emails, planning the kids activity calendar, or just talking to my husband about how crazy our schedule is.
There will always be people who have some extenuating circumstance where they feel they cannot fit in more activity without sacrificing something else in their life. That's ok - that is your choice. But for MANY people, the time is there, it is a matter of prioritization and just making it part of your routine. And once it is, you likely won't feel like you've sacrificed anything....
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There was a point in graduate school that if I wanted to finish my degree, there was no time for anything else. It was bench work from 5pm-8am*, a 20min commute both ways, microwave meals eaten while writing my thesis and all spare hours were for sleep - averaging about 4hrs worth per day. That went on for months, but it was necessary because my PI had taken another job. I had to finish much sooner than expected or be forced to transfer to another PI which would have meant tacking on another year (likely two) to work on their research.
It is true that there is always a choice and always the possibility of doing things differently. It is a question of whether it is worth what you would have to sacrifice to get it done.
Personally, I would not ever have chosen an extra 30min of exercise per day for those months over finishing my degree ASAP. In all honesty, getting out of there was undoubtedly more beneficial to my health than the extra movement would have been, even if I'd been completely sedentary (bench work generally isn't).
*working with an extremely photosensitive, radioactive reagent means you get the night shift whether you want it or not
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MeanderingMammal wrote: »BodyzLanguage wrote: »I know you can add another 30 mins to your workout. An hour a day is hardly any sacrifice.
Let's see...
Wake 0530 - shower, dress, breakfast
Leave house 0615
arrive work 0830 - drive to the station, train, then a fifteen minute walk
finish work 1830
arrive home c2100
dinner, housework and a bodyweight session will take up to midnight
bed at about 0030
merely an example of where vacuous statements around adding time to a workout really don't add to the debate.
Your commute and working hours are significantly above average for the US and Europe. Maybe you are a special snowflake, but to most adding 30 minutes a day of movement would not be an issue.0 -
Crossfitand5ks wrote: »I have a very active job where I'm hauling parts, stacking or putting away tires or batteries. I'm constantly on my feet but the actual physical activity is sporadic. So I may get 20 mins then down time for 20 or so minutes. What I'm wondering is it cummulative or does it have to be consecutive? I commute over an hour one way and work 10-12 hours a day and live where lately its hitting 108 or hotter so outside workouts are hard to get in. I'm wondering if what I get at work is enough?
In your profile settings I guess you would've selected "Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)". Then MFP would include that in the calculations of your daily calorie intake. You should probably be better off than most of us who sit and look at a computer screen all day.0 -
It is rare that I only get 30 minutes in. My day starts with a 4 mile swim that takes me about 2:15 to complete. Love it.
I feel bloated and sluggish when I don't get in the swim.0 -
I remember when I was young I heard someone say it or I read it somewhere I can't remember... but it was
why sit when you can stand, why stand when you can walk, why walk when you can run...
I don't know why but that has stuck with me for years. Basically, always asking yourself if you can be just a bit more active throughout your day. Having a fitbit proves to me that those little increments of activity really add up throughout the day.
I also like the tips mentioned before - parking further away, taking the stairs, taking the long way instead of a shortcut... when you are busy finding small things like that are better than doing nothing!0 -
I remember when I was young I heard someone say it or I read it somewhere I can't remember... but it was
why sit when you can stand, why stand when you can walk, why walk when you can run...
I don't know why but that has stuck with me for years. Basically, always asking yourself if you can be just a bit more active throughout your day. Having a fitbit proves to me that those little increments of activity really add up throughout the day.
I also like the tips mentioned before - parking further away, taking the stairs, taking the long way instead of a shortcut... when you are busy finding small things like that are better than doing nothing!
I also believe it's the small things we do on a consistent basis that reap the biggest rewards...3 -
i have a desk job, yeah i walk here and there while in office but i dont count that and if i dont get my 90 minutes of cardio per day i feel dead, i try to walk around as much as possible, but proper cardio session is what gets me through0
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