Web Worker Daily

Although a recent news item about web working conditions were exaggerated, there’s an amount of truth to it. Web working carries some health disadvantages because of stress or the working environment. One of the things you can do to curb these effects is to exercise.

Exercising has many benefits including better sleep, higher endurance, and the endorphin release during exercise also boosts your mood. For these reasons alone, I believe it can improve work performance and help us attain healthier lifestyles. But before we breakout the exercise tapes, here are some general tips:

• Schedule your exercise just like you would any work-related activity.
• Don’t overexert yourself. Start with simple exercises for 10 minutes a day before you move on to more complicated routines for longer periods daily. Also, do some warm up exercises before you begin the more rigorous back exercises.
• If it helps, you can use Web 2.0 tools to measure your progress.

Now, on to the exercises.
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Who says we have to sit at desks to be productive? Leggett & Platt is showing off a product they have in development called the “Starry Night Bed.” I call it a bed made for web workers. Not only does it integrate the kinds of electronic controls we need to do our jobs, but it includes intelligence to make sure we get the kind of sleep we need to face a hard day of work.

The bed includes built-in electronics: wireless Internet connectivity and a wireless keyboard; a built-in iPod docking station; integration to life|ware Connected, a Windows Media Center program that controls home electronics; as well as 1.5 terabytes of storage to maintain your media collections.

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