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STAND UP FOR A HEALTHIER YOU AT WORK

With summer coming to a close, we’re heading into that long stretch of time where we tend to sit for most of the day. As the temperature drops, it’s easy to find ourselves opting out of midday workouts, or quick runs in the park, in exchange for the warmer option of sitting down indoors. In short, we’re going to be less active.

But that doesn’t have to be the case at work!

We’ve all seen the coworker with the yoga mat tucked behind their desk and bouncing, or rather rolling, around on an exercise ball—sometimes hilarity ensues. Then there’s that coworker who actually does calisthenics in their cubicle.  Both options are better than the alternative certainly, but there is a movement afoot—pun wildly intended— of people looking to fundamentally change how they work at their desks simply by standing up.

This type of desk allows for the freedom to work on different levels, thereby increasing movement and avoiding the cramped confines of the chair. Many models are adjustable so you can always sit back down if you get tired of standing up.

The benefits for working at a standing desk are obvious but some say you can also expect to work better with coworkers and help alleviate certain back conditions. An article fromForbes suggests that you might actually extend your life by three years and avoid a plethora of health complications if you just start standing more at work.

Desk or no desk, the objective is still to move more throughout the day. Check out thisinfographic from MedicalBillingandCoding.org for more information on how sitting down so much is affecting our bodies, including some great ways to combat potential risks.

Consider for yourself and for your coworkers; what are some other ways to stay active and off the chair while working? There are probably more than a few opportunities in your own workplace that you can start taking advantage of immediately.

If a viable option for your business is to consider an office workspace that is flexible in accommodating you or your company’s new standing outlook consider our workplace options.

And make sure to follow Edison Offices on Facebook and Twitter for more insights on important trends and topics in the working world.

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MIDTOWN AND LUNCH

There is a sea of possibilities in Midtown when it comes to grabbing some grub on your lunch break. Of course there’s also the problem of proximity—is there anything good near my office?? Finding the perfect meal to add a little pep to your step (or eye balls for reading those bazillion emails) can be a daunting task given your limited window.

Fear not.

Fortunately, there are some pretty dedicated people out there solving these types of problems. If you’re looking to try something new everyday, or want to find an awesome culinary retreat from the daily grind, here are a few sites that can help you narrow or broaden the field:

Midtown Lunch: Founded in 2006, this site started out as a means sorting through Manhattan’s Midtown lunch menus. Read through their blog to discover something new, or search by location or food type to find your next meal.

Lunch Studio: These are the ladies that lunch! These two working architects’ mission is to catalogue every lunch and dessert they consume because they wholly believe:

Leaving the office to have lunch every day will not only increase productivity in the work place, it can bring unfettered happiness to your day. 

If you also happen to be outside of midtown, check out their take on lunch in other locations as well.

Time Out New York—Food & Drink: Time Out New York’s got its finger on the food fibers of Midtown. Filter these listings by cuisine or be more specific by location  (Midtown East & West). Clicking on a listing reveals average pricing, location info, user rating, transport info, a quick overview and sometimes a way to book a table right now.

Yelp.com—Midtown East & West: Yelp is one of the best sites out there for crowd sourcing reviews and its users take their food seriously. The links provided filter out results based on location and the category “Restaurants,” but you can go ahead and narrow the search by “Food Stands” that also include food trucks, or by cuisine type.

Don’t forget that food trucks make their way around the city and rarely stay in one location for too long. If you find one you really like, follow them on Twitter to know when they’ll be back in your area next. And while you’re there, you might as well follow us:@EdisonOfficesNY.

Photo Credit: NYPL, Jonathan Blanc.

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LABOR DAY THE NEW YORK WAY

Labor Day is the celebration of our great American workforce and the contributions each of us make. It’s a time of reflection, recognition, and of course, relaxing.

For most of us it’s also about the end of summer. One last day to enjoy the warmth, the sunshine, and the gluttonous behavior celebrations are meant for. So the real question is, what are you doing this year?

If you’re staying in the city for Labor Day, consider making the most out of the great outdoor spaces and attractions.

Have fun with animals at the Bronx Zoo and the NY aquarium. Take a stroll through NYC’sbotanical gardens. And of course there are the NYC parks like Bryant Park, Union Square Park, or Riverside Park. There’s always, you know, that big one right in the center of Manhattan too.

Also, don’t forget Manhattan is an island, so check out views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson River from the South Street Seaport and the Hudson River Park.

Lastly, be ready to party. One of the largest parades of the year, the Labor Day Carnivaltakes place in Brooklyn.

No matter what you decide to do today, be sure to enjoy yourself!

Follow Edison Offices on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo courtesy of Gregory James Van Raalte / Shutterstock.com.

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HUDSON RIVER PARK: LIVE YOUR OLYMPIC DREAMS

The 2012 London Olympics may have ended but the adrenaline-pumping buzz still abounds. Millions of people dream of acting out their own gold medal fantasies and many more simply want to find a fun way to exercise or let off some steam. In New York there’s simply one place where you can relax, workout, and lose yourself in dreams of Olympic glory, the Hudson River Park.

You can get busy like the Dream Team on one of the basketball courts or even spike a volleyball into some sand with co-workers. Catching some waves more your speed? Breeze over to Pier 66 and work off some stress on the water in a Kayak or as part of a team in an Outrigger canoe. You can also pedal your way to your own Olympic podium on 5 miles of bike trails that are open 24 hours a day.

So, what’s the best part of reliving Olympic history at the park? Bringing your furry companion along for the journey. Of course, if your pup wants to go for the gold solo, there’s always the park’s dog runs.

Don’t wait till all the sunshine and Olympic fever has gone away, head on over to the Hudson River Park to get the most out of the end of summer and maybe kick the dust off on of those New Year’s resolutions you’ve forgotten all about.

Check out this great article from the New York Post for more ideas on where to live out those Olympic dreams.

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HUDSON SQUARE: TODAY, WE’RE ALL EAR’S

If NYC neighborhoods held a reinvention of cool contest, Hudson Square would be, in the words of one famous fellow waterfront denizen, a contender. Tucked away on the lower west side, with Greenwich Village frolicking to its north and Tribeca bustling to its south, Hudson Square makes a case for a more quiet, historic awesomeness.

Case in point, the Ear Inn. The oldest working bar in NYC, this brilliantly unassuming joint will quickly make your list of places to take visitors when you want to show them the real NYC. Why? Because grabbing a beer here feels like playing a walk-on role in the city’s long history.

The Ear Inn is authentic and unusual, from the vaguely tilting floor of its almost 200-year old building (the coincidentally awesomely named James Brown House, est. 1817) to the nautical décor, to the knowledge that when the house was first built, the Hudson River was – literally – a stone’s throw away. (Seriously. Everything from a few feet away on its west is built on landfill.)

And, talk about reinvention of cool – here’s how the place got its name. A bunch of artists scraped together enough money to buy the building back in the mid-70s, when Hudson Square was just another sad, neglected neighborhood. But because of restrictions on changing signage of historic buildings (not to mention, it was probably way cheap), they changed the name of the place from the more generic BAR to EAR, by painting out the curves of the B.

Now THAT’s what the city is all about. And that’s Hudson Square. Quietly, casually holding down the fort for some of the oldest, coolest bits of NYC history.