Balance on one leg and your stroke risk are linked - Web MD. Individuals who could not balance on one leg for more than 20 seconds were association with cerebral small vessel disease. It was also independently linked to lower cognitive scores. The more damage individuals had the shorter the amount of time they were able to stand. Doctors are recommending this as a quick screening test for the risk of stroke.
A more advanced version of the test would involve trying to do this with closed eyes. I needed to do this as part of physical therapy and found it to be difficult. I'd recommend keeping the area around the test area soft and safe.
According to a CBS News Report Companies are packing workers in like sardines. The average number of square feet per office worker has shrunk from 225 in 2010 to 176 in 2012. The prediction for 2017 is 151 square feet.
Rational: Saves money. People wear headphones to help with aural privacy and office photos are replaced by digital images.
Backlash: Privacy is nonexistent. Workers to go off site to have a private phone conversation.
Loud phone conversations can irritate others (1 min)
A ten point sitting rising test has been used by doctors since the 1990's as a significant efficient predictor of mortality. In a study of 51 to 80 year olds, individuals with lower scores were 5 to 6 times more likely to die in 6 years than those with high scores.
A person receives 10 points for being able to sit and stand without losing balance or using an arm, hand or leg for support in rising or sitting.
Occasionally glare problems are noted during an ergonomic evaluation. Aside from removing light bulbs or putting up umbrellas, a Cubeshield (available online) may help. I've used this as an alternative to removing bulbs from the overhead lights. This is also useful to accommodate individuals with different lighting preferences.
While researching additional material for my blogpost on the "Dystopian Workplace of the Future," I came across news interviews with Edward Hess on his new book Learn or Die. He sees a very big change in the workplace of the future with many routine jobs currently held by humans being replaced by technology.
He offers a critical critique of human's natural tendency toward lazy mental processes. Columbia University Press has provided a series of videos summarizing the main point of several chapters. I've linked to a couple below.
How our mind works - 2 minutes
Learning Conversations (Need for intellectual humility) - 2 min.
I came across this ergonomics video produced in the UK. It's a bit dated but does cover the fundamentals of ergonomic design in several situations. At the 11:30 point there is a discussion about proper ergonomic design of can openers.
Robb Godshaw and Instructables Developer Will Doenlen designed and constructed the Hamster Wheel Workstation at San Francisco based Pier 9.
There are a couple of nice features with this station. If it is combined with a 72inch wide height adjustable platform the worker can transition to standing or sitting position by moving to the side and pulling up a chair. Also the wheel does not require electricity and would use less energy than a treadmill. The hamster wheel could also be set up to generate electricity.
24 hour project for hamster wheel workstation - less than 1 minute
For those of you on a limited budget, combining a New Balance stepper
with a height adjustable workstation will provide a similar workout.
USA Today reports that Late School Start Times are Good For Teens. Early school start times before 7:20 am make it almost impossible for students to get adequate sleep.
According to the article the consequences of inadequate sleep in teenagers:
Increased risk for obesity, stroke and type 2 diabetes; higher rates of automobile accidents; and lower levels of physical activity.
Increased risk for anxiety and depression; increased risk-taking behaviors; impaired interpretation of social/emotional cues, decreased motivation and increased vulnerability to stress.
Lower academic achievement, poor school attendance; increased dropout rates; and impairments in attention, memory, organization and time management.
As a parent of a teenager, I work to keep tabs noting problems with sleep deprivation. There are significant issues with a later start time with respect to after school activities. It is important to be careful of the time commitments and very important to get appropriate amounts of sleep.
Rick Newman from Yahoo Finance describes at 2022 Workplace in an August 19, 2014 article. In the article he describes a future where worker key strokes on the computer are rated on a scale similar to an ACT score. Workers will be extensively interviewed to find out if they fit into the corporate culture. Workers without unique skills will be commodities.
The future of work A journey to 2022 according to pwc breaks work categories into three major areas: The corporate (blue), the sustainable(green) and the small(orange). Each group has a very different set of values and expected behaviors. The report summarizes survey results about future work from over 10,000 individuals in China, India, Germany, UK and US.
According to the widely known but seldom quoted futurist, Monsignor Gregory Casura, work in the not so distant future will be done by robots we purchase and program to do our work. The better we are at programming and optimizing the functionality of these robots the higher our pay scale. We'll also send out drones to deliver pizzas.
Drone above the U of M east bank - N. Carlson
Robots are already replacing parking lot attendants, bank tellers, movie projectionists, movie ticket sellers, toll booth operators and kids mowing lawns (see Robomow). Robots will not be replacing plumbers, steam fitters, carpenters. They may replace truck, train and taxicab drivers. BBC News describes the coming age of driverless trucks. It is a bit of an oversell but one driver can essentially control two trucks in tandem with the aid of computer technology.
Ed Hess - Author of Learn or Die - 4min.
Ed Hess- In the next 10 - 20 years roughly 50% of jobs are in danger of replacement by technology. We can no longer afford to fake it 'till you make it. We are conditioned to be defensive about what we don't know. This destructive behavioral trait will cost people their jobs.
may help. I've used this as an alternative to removing bulbs from the overhead lights. This is also useful to accommodate individuals with different lighting preferences. 
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