Thursday, April 18, 2013

Fitness and the Internet

 

 

Do you sit in an office chair for more than six hours a day? If so, your risk of heart disease has increased by up to 64 percent. Some users who are required to be on the internet most of the day use a stand-up desk and can walk or exercise in place. These handy add-ons will help remind you to get up and move around!

Mobile health applications have been around for some time already. Nike has their own remote monitoring devices, such as FitBit as well as several other provide incentives for exercise and fitness.

Mozilla has entered the arena now as well, with the announcement of several new browser add ons for their Firefox Web Browser that remind the user that it is time to take a break from computing.

Consider this, from the software developers at Firefox

“We are now a world of people who are plugged-in 24/7. We’re always looking at our computer screens and our mobile devices. It helps us stay informed, educated and entertained, so it’s a good thing!

But more and more stories are coming out in the media about how bad it is to sit at our computers/devices all the time. We need to stay active!

Guess what? Firefox gives me (and you) solutions, built right into my browser. That makes it easy to do something about it!

The easiest option is an add-on called Simple Timer. It is super customizable and allows you to select when you want to receive a notification. You can set as many as you want. I set it up to alert me every hour as my reminder to get up!

Then there’s the Take a Break add-on which flashes a little icon every 15 minutes to remind you to take a mini break – close your eyes, look away from the screen, etc. Then a pop-up box will remind you to take a bigger break each hour to stretch, get a drink of water, etc. You can adjust the timers to suit your schedule.

 

If you’re like me, you know you need to take a break but you don’t know what to do with yourself. That’s why StretchClock holds a special place in my routine. Not only do you get an hourly (that’s customizable) alert, but it gives you a suggested stretch or exercise to get that blood flowing!

 

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