As someone who spends 12+ hours a day sitting at a computer, reading this in the NYTimes this afternoon put a frown on my face:

Regular workout sessions do not appear to fully undo the effects of prolonged sitting. ‘‘There seem to be different pathways’’ involved in the beneficial physiological effects of exercising and the deleterious impacts of sitting, says Tatiana Warren, a graduate student in exercise science at the University of South Carolina and the lead author of the study of men who sat too much. ‘‘One does not undo the other,’’ she says.

[from Phys Ed: The Men Who Stare at Screens - Well Blog - NYTimes.com via Christopher Wink on Twitter.]

Although the study referenced in the article above specifically pertains to men, I wouldn’t doubt that the effects are similar for women too (but hey, I’m just guessing).

As a way of “ameliorating the dangers of inactivity”, the blog posts quotes Tatiana Warren, a graduate student in exercise science at the University of South Carolina and lead author of the study:

‘‘Look for ways to decrease physical inactivity,’’ Ms. Warren says, beyond 30-minute bouts of jogging or structured exercise. Stand up. Pace around your office. Get off the couch and grab a mop or change a light bulb the next time you watch ‘‘Dancing With the Stars.’’

Ms. Warren, I know you’re the expert here, but that sounds like terribly ineffective advice to me. It’s also advice tailored more toward people who watch TV than people who sit at their laptops all day, and the latter is probably more common and widespread, at least amongst my circles.

Here’s my take (as a person who spends way too much time sitting) on how I’ve been able to lose some of the extra pounds I’ve put on since graduating from college:

1. Invest in an fitness ball to replace your chair. This isn’t uniquely my idea. Tech Guy Leo Laporte has used a ball for years. All the guys in the Social Vibe office (where I sometimes work when I don’t work from home), do the same. Supposedly, sitting on one of these exercise balls all day burns about 350 calories, and has tons of other benefits like helping you build your core muscles (abs), helps with spine alignment (so you can say bye to your terrible, hunched-over-the-laptop posture), and strengthens your balance.
2. Keep lightweight dumbbells at your desk. There will be moments of your day when you’re sitting at your computer reading instead of typing. Your hands will be free, and if you see your weights sitting there, pick ‘em up and give ‘em a whirl. I have four-pound weights that I lift during morning conference calls and while reading my Google Reader. It also helps you maintain good information management if you set aside 10 minutes every few hours to read blog posts and lift weights — exercise both your mind and your body.
3. Stand sometimes. Whether this means siting your laptop at a tall kitchen counter if you work from home or buying a standing desk if you go into an office, have a place where you can work where you’ll be forced to stand up for a while. I have a tall kitchen nook that I stand at for a few hours a day. Life Hacker has advice on making a stand up desk for $20.

I don’t have any answers for burning calories while driving, which is especially relevant to Angelenos like myself who spend way too many hours in the car. But because I’d imagine any kind of car workout would probably be a safety hazard, I’ll refrain from asking for your suggestions.

The powerful motivator in our lives isn’t money; it’s the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements.

Tonight I stumbled upon a Harvard Business Review post about finding happiness in your life. I was intrigued by the fact that a long, insighful piece about happiness was in the HBR, of all places. Then I realized why:  How we feel about our business impacts how we feel about our personal lives, which in return effects how we perform in business, etc. Our personal lives are just as important to business performance as our business strategies.

From How Will You Measure Your Life?, six steps:

1. Create a Strategy for your life – “The choice and successful pursuit of a profession is but one tool for achieving your purpose. But without a purpose, life can become hollow.”
2. Allocate your resources — ” If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you look at personal lives through that lens, you’ll see the same stunning and sobering pattern: people allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most.”
3. Create a culture — “Families have cultures, just as companies do. Those cultures can be built consciously or evolve inadvertently.”
4. Avoid the “Marginal Costs” mistake — “If we knew the future would be exactly the same as the past, that approach would be fine. But if the future’s different—and it almost always is—then it’s the wrong thing to do.”
5. Remember the importance of humility — “Humility was defined not by self-deprecating behavior or attitudes but by the esteem with which you regard others.”
6. Choose the Right Yardstick – “Don’t worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people.”

Overall, those six steps can be summed up as one important concept: Balance. From my limited experience as a working professional out of college, I can confidently say that the harder I focus on achieving balance in my life, the happier I am, the better my work output is, and the more valuable are my thought contributions and ideas.

How do you measure and achieve happiness? Would you agree that balance is the No. 1 determining factor?

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Unlike prior years when I’ve set New Year’s resolutions, this year is the start of many new things in my life. As of three weeks ago, I’m a college graduate. On Christmas I moved to LA to start a new life and career. So these are my resolutions. Feel free to steal a few of them.

1. Blog regularly: I haven’t blogged properly for about a year now. I took the CICM internship this time last year so I shifted my blogging habits there. Immediately after the termination of that internship, I began blogging for CoPress (and still do so today). You can find more of my journalism-related posts there, but for more casual, personal blog posts, the goal is to post something here at least once a week.

2. Become a better task manager: I’m taking on a lot of projects these days. I soon plan to launch a new site for my hometown radio station, KTIP. I’m finishing up freelance work for Spot.Us and Cal Poly University Housing. Now that I’m graduated, I’m doing work for CoPress and I’m full time at Publish2. I recently started using Remember the Milk to help myself stay organized, but if you know of any better tools, throw ‘em in the comments.

3. Stop being an anti-social freak. Anyone who knows me in real life (i.e. people who didn’t meet me through Twitter), knows that me + social = fail. It could be because I’m a workaholic, but I’m also partially a workaholic to avoid being social. Since I’ll be rooming with the lovely Vanessa Bezic and living in a cultural hub of the country, Los Angeles, I plan to take advantage of the city and network myself silly. I got a good start last night by kicking off the new year at Noel Baron‘s home.

4. Read more books. This one is self explanatory. I want to start with the classics that I never read in high school or college (starting with Crime and Punishment and Great Expectations). Then I’ll move on to this list (stolen from Jane Lehr’s women and gender studies class).

5. Go to more conferences. I rarely went to journalism conferences because (1) I couldn’t afford it and (2) I couldn’t afford to miss class. Now that I’m a graduate with a job, both of those factors are eliminated. I’m also working with organizations that have team members spread across the country, so meeting with them in person whenever I can is important.

6. Build a WordPress theme from scratch. I’m perfectly capable of doing this. I just haven’t. Don’t ask why. Perhaps time and reason were the restraints. Now I’m giving myself the time, which is reason enough.

7. Master PHP and start on Django. Working at CoPress (and now with Publish2), my role has always been to design something pretty in Photoshop, then hand it off to the boys for execution. After reading Megan Taylor’s list of hacker-journalists (comprised entirely of men), I have a goal of being able to add “developer” to my Twitter bio in addition to designer and journalist.

8. Pitch a story using Spot.Us. I’m not working as reporter in the trenches for my first post-graduate job. As a result, I don’t want to lose touch with my reporting roots. Now that I’m living in LA where Spot.Us opened its second branch, I intend to get to know the issues in this area and use the site to pitch and report as a freelancer and publish it on my own.

9. Stay married to my career. I was pretty good at this in college, but post-college, I’m ready to really dive into the work I’m doing.

10. Learn how to cook (well). In college I lived off of salads, sandwiches and ramen out of practicality. Now it’s time to finally eat well to keep up energy levels required to follow through with the rest of this list. The goal is to master one dish a week. Over ambitious? Perhaps.

That’s all. Peace. Happy 2010.

Inspired by Mark Luckie’s recent post about great holiday gifts for newsies, I thought I’d throw in my two cents. I recently read Jeff Jarvis’ What Would Google Do and recommend it as a last-minute holiday gift– for both techy journalist friends and non-journalism family members.

It’s the perfect last-minute gift for anyone with a slight tinge of geek in their blood or the old-fashioned curmudgeons in need of enlightenment. If you’re not sold, here’s a quick little taste of what the book is about:

If that doesn’t hit the spot, Brady Teufel has a great list of journalistic, creative non-fictions that would also make for great Christmas presents.

Happy Holidays, everyone. See you in 2010.

I thought this would be a fun opportunity for you to get to get to know me. Here’s a quick peek at the tools I carry everyday. (And amazingly, I usually also carry my laptop, charger and mouse in the same purse, I just didn’t have enough room on the table).

Have fun clicking around, and let me know what you keep in your pockets at all times (and maybe what I should invest in!)

http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/detail/0dafc92a1