More than 58 diseases are directly related to obesity in the U.S., including the top three killers of Americans: heart disease, cancer and stroke. Two of every three American adults are overweight, with 50% of this number clinically obese.  The annual cost of obesity-related disease is estimated at $150 billion and is expected to double in less than nine years.

Until the 1970s, America had fewer struggles with expanding waistlines. What has brought about this change? On average, Americans consume only 100 calories more per day than during the 1960s, according to the National Institutes of Health. But Americans burn 600 to 700 fewer calories per day than during the 1960s. The reasons for this decreasing calorie burn include two-hour work commutes, sedentary computer-related desk jobs and 500 cable channels of nightly entertainment.  America is literally sitting itself to death.
 
“We are a fat nation, and our current health direction should be classified a national emergency, a threat to our way of life and security,” says Steve Bordley, CEO of TrekDesk.com. “Our leadership in today’s world is dependent upon our business success, and healthcare costs currently are the No. 1 threat to our global competitiveness.”

In one generation, we have engineered a great deal of movement out of the workplace, home and schools and are now suffering the health consequences. This process can be reversed, but only if we are willing to recognize sedentary lifestyles as a critical threat to our well-being as a society. Medical science has now classified this epidemic as “sedentary disease.”  It is clearly one that both clinically and financially calls for a greater emphasis on prevention compared with treatment.

One contributor to the solution could be desks, such as those offered by TrekDesk, that are designed to wrap around a treadmill.  Treadmill desks allow employees and students the opportunity to move throughout the day at slow speeds without sweating - while they perform schoolwork or office tasks.  The company says the benefits of the equivalent of walking a minimum of five miles a day, coupled with a healthy lifestyle, could decrease the risk of initial heart attacks by 90% and the incidence of stroke by 70% (citing the American Heart Association) and type 2 diabetes by 50% (citing the American Diabetes Association).

The cost of a TrekDesk and an accompanying treadmill comes to less than the average American family's monthly health-insurance cost and offers employees the ability to "walk" five miles in as little as three to four hours, the company says.

More information about TrekDesks is available at www.trekdesk.com.