FEATURE THE NEW SMOKING
According to the WHO, physical inactivity has been identified as the fourth leading factor for global mortality, causing approximately 3.2m deaths a year. That’s why StepJockey are on a mission to lead the fight against sedentary behaviour in the workspace, explains CEO Zarir Vakil.
We are all very aware of the serious health consequences caused by smoking. Tobacco was responsible for over 100m deaths globally in the 20th century. But now there is another silent killer that has been uncovered as a huge cause of death globally – sitting.
Studies by Keith M. Diaz, of Columbia University Medical Centre (NYC) have explored the impact of sitting for long periods vs. sitting for shorter periods of time. 7985 participants were monitored and results showed that those with higher total sedentary time and longer sedentary bout duration were a higher risk for all-cause mortality. Enough said.
Why exercise alone is not enough Research by the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina monitored the effects of sedentary behaviour of 377 men over a 21-year period. They measured the number of hours spent sitting watching TV and sitting in a car to define the levels of sedentary behaviour. The results showed that those who reported greater than 23 hours per week of combined sedentary behaviour were 64% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
“Three hours standing rather than sitting at a desk would burn 144 calories per day, equating to 30,000 calories per year.”
People with active jobs where they are frequently on their feet are of course spending less time sitting. But the people who work at desks for eight or more hours per day will have a lot of sedentary hours – you might be surprised just how many when you reflect upon your own! Try timing it.
The typical day of a desk-based worker British workers typically spend nine hours per day sitting down, including commuting, time at desk and leisure time. Out of 2000 workers, almost half were sitting for around four to six hours a day whilst in work and 29% were sitting for a daily commute of 30-60 minutes each day.
Apart from lunch breaks and ‘comfort breaks’, there is not a great deal of walking or standing for desk based workers. In fact, muscle movement will probably be limited mainly to the arms and hands that are typing at a computer.
After work, they go home and half the surveyed people are then seated for two-three hours at home. So the statistics show that there is a large amount of sedentary time in the average worker’s daily routine.
Sedentary behaviours We haven’t seen many big health campaigns that address sedentary behaviour just yet, but it is going to be high on the agenda over the coming years. Let’s look at what sitting is actually doing to the human body.
Dr Toni Yancey, Professor in the Health Services Department at the University of California describes the effect of sitting as: “Our body just kind of going into shutdown”. She insists that the body simply isn’t supposed to sit for hours on end. Sitting changes the way your body handles blood sugar and fat metabolism. The net result is that long hours of sedentary behaviour puts you at higher risk of diabetes and heart disease.
In 2013, Chester University shared their findings from a study into the difference between sitting at a desk and adding several hours of standing into your daily routine. Dr Buckley, lecturer of Applied Exercise Science in Health calculated that three hours standing rather than sitting at a desk would burn 144 calories per day, equating to 30,000 calories per year (or 8lbs of fat).
What are employers doing to help
their employees? Some facilities managers have been proactive with the issue and have introduced the use of standing desks or at least giving people the choice if they would like to use a standing desk. If you are simply looking at a computer screen and typing for the majority of the day then that can almost certainly be done whilst standing, provided you have the right desk to support this.
As CEO of StepJockey, I have a vested interest in creating healthier workspaces. We have spent a few years now investigating the impact of sedentary behaviour and working on solutions that are easy to introduce but which are highly effective. What I can tell you is that we are only just seeing the beginning of the problems of sedentary behaviour. There has been a 30% fall in physical activity in just two generations. Why do you think that is? Well, a lot of that is down to technology and the impact it has had on people’s jobs and lifestyles.
Is technology to blame? Around 30 years ago, the UK had much fewer desk-based workers. Many jobs were more manual and required higher levels of activity.
58 | TOMORROW’S FM
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