On the Old Treadmill

Sure, my personal favored analogy was always the gerbil spinning madly on the flywheel, but who among us has not, at one point or another, talked about their work as being on the old treadmill?
Now with the Walkstation workstation from Steelcase - a company likely familiar to anyone who's logged time in cubicle land - you can quite literally work on a treadmill. 
I learned about this from a recent NY Times article, pointed out to me by my brother-in-law, Rick, who - because he bicycles a kazillion miles a day - has no need for a Walkstation.
The Walkstation is the brainchild of Mayo Clinic endocrinologist James Levine.

To incorporate extra movement into the routines of sedentary workers (himself included), Dr. Levine constructed the first known treadmill desk by sliding a bedside hospital tray over a $400 treadmill. With a laptop and a phone headset, he said he can go all day at a leisurely 1.4 miles an hour.

The idea has been  refined - no more balancing a hospital tray on any old treadmill - and the Walkstation been available since last November. According to the article, over 300 - to the tune of about $4K -  have been sold to organizations that include Humana, Mutual of Omaha, GlaxoSmithKline, and Best Buy.
Most are situated in communal areas that people can use for a while during the day; some are in conference rooms (which seems like an excellent idea). Some folks are using them when on conference calls (which seems like another excellent idea). For individuals, Steelcase has a model that has a switch-off capability that lets you move from sitting to walking mode.
These machines aren't the sweat-hogs you may be used to from the gym, and they don't provide anything near a full, rigorous cardio workout. They max out at a very gradual 2 m.p.h. which is not enough for most people to break a sweat. But it is steady exercise and walking on one should improve your general health and fitness. And it's certainly a lot easier to incorporate a bit of fitness into your daily routine if you don't have to stop at the gym and don special workout clothes in order to do so.
Gradual walking is also an exercise that most people can do while still focusing on their work.
But that's most - not all - people, as not

...everyone [has] the coordination to walk and work, said Andrew Wood, the director of ergonomics and corporate services for Muve, a weight-management consultancy affiliated with the Mayo Clinic.

“If you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, this may not be the workstation for you,” Mr. Wood said. But it should be a piece of cake for most people, he added.

A piece of cake.
Perhaps not the most felicitous word choice, given that the sedentary life style that us "knowledge workers" lead - that comes hand in hand with gloppily-frosted sheet cakes for birthdays, showers, and going away parties - has gotten us to the point where we need to be on the treadmill while working to burn off a few more calories than we do leaning back in our ergonomic office chairs.