Treadmill

I have a little treadmill that goes under my standing desk, so I can walk and work at the same time. I’ve had one for years, and I use it very sporadically. Sometimes I use it every day and other times I don’t use it for months on end. But since coming back to work, I am using it a lot (well, it’s only been two days) because unlike other times in my life, I genuinely have no time at all for exercise. I have at most three hours per working day to spend with Edith when she’s awake (well, not counting the hours and hours in the middle of the night when she is suddenly very much awake and when I would greatly prefer not to be spending time with her), so I’m not going to spend an hour of that exercising. So I’m really grateful that I have the ability to multitask in this way.

I know that people sometimes work on treadmills in actual offices, but I don’t see how. When I walk and work at the same time, I am quickly drenched in sweat, and I don’t even walk very fast. I wear workout clothes to do it and it would be completely impossible to do in an office at all, and especially in street clothes. But then, I find that people are very different in terms of how much they sweat. For example, some people jog on their lunch hours and don’t shower and go back to work in their office? Or bike to work? This is simply not possible with my body chemistry, but I guess I’m happy for them that it works for them. I’ve always been very irritated by breezy “just do it on your way to other things or during breaks!” exercise advice from the sweatless, though.

Pregnancy changed a few things about the way my body works (the texture of my hair, for example, and of course, my waistline), but it does not seem to have made any difference at all when it comes to how much I sweat. Also, all the changes have been detrimental, which just further goes to illustrate how much nature despises women. I mean, why the hell doesn’t pregnancy make you stronger, healthier, and happier so you have more babies? That would be more adaptive, no? Instead, it makes you fatter, slower, more anxious and more depressed, and it actually makes you stupider for a year or more. What purpose does any of this serve?

Anyway, I like my treadmill.