Sedentary, moi?!

It would be easy working at a desk all day to become very sedentary, so I make an effort to go out every day and stretch my legs with a trip to the shops or a swim. I'm also a right fidget and I struggle to stay still for very long. My working day is punctuated by lots of getting up and wandering around, to make a cup of tea, to check the post, to pop on a load of washing or just to look out the window. That's not to say that this is work avoidance - instead it's thinking time. Rather than spend time staring at my screen, I think and compose ideas in my head as I potter around the house. My house though happens to be spread over three floors, with my office at the top, the kitchen in the middle and front door at the bottom. My boyfriend often remarks at how much time I spend trotting up and down the stairs (because I always trot rather than trudge), so I thought I'd do a study of my movements. Yesterday, I stuck post-it notes on the wall at the top and bottom of each staircase and carried one of those little IKEA pencils in my pocket to mark off each time I went up or down:

The result? 72 times! That's 36 ups and 36 downs; 25 each up and down the upper set of stairs (13 steps) and 11 up and down the lower set (10 steps). I've been up and down twice just in the time I've been writing this post; once to pick up the pile of post-its I'd left on the table downstairs and once to find my camera to upload the picture. That could be described as inefficient, but I prefer to think of it as active!