Office employees should be
on feet for four hours of working day, study says
Research
co-commissioned by Public Health England calls for a workplace revolution
through use of sit-stand desks to avoid risks of a sedentary lifestyle
Office workers should spend a minimum of two
hours on their feet at work – building up to an ideal four hours – in order to
avoid the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle, according to a study
co-commissioned by Public Health England.
Research has long linked excessive time spent
sitting to increased risk of morbidity or premature death but the advice,
co-commissioned by Public Health England and published on Monday,
represents the first time British workers have been provided with quantifiable
targets for getting out of their seats.
The study authors, who include experts from
the UK, US and Australia, call for a revolution in the workplace through the
use of sit-stand desks, standing-based work and regular walkabouts.
They also urge further research into whether
facilities such as toilets should be moved further away from staff, some emails
could be replaced by hand-delivered messages and employees could have alarms on
computers or personal motion assessment devices prompting them to move.
Study co-author Gavin Bradley, from Active
Working, a community interest company which co-commissioned the study and set
up www.getbritainstanding.org,
said: “We are creatures of habit and we have come to the wrong conclusion, that
sitting is the optimum way of conducting office work. We need an environment
where people feel much more liberated to do desk standing.”
Reviewing existing scientific evidence, which
dictated the thresholds they set, the authors found that compared with those
who sit the least, those who sit most are more
than twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease
and have a 13% and 17% increased risk of cancer
incidence and mortality respectively.
Office workers spend 65% to 75% of their
working hours sitting, half of which is in prolonged periods of sustained
sitting, according to the study, published in the British Journal of Sports
Medicine.
'I start to feel it in my knees' – working for hours while standing proves a tall order
British people sit for 8.9 hours each
day on average and one study suggested that,
for those sitting more than seven hours a day, there is a 5% increased risk of
premature death with each additional hour off their feet.
Bradley said some tasks, such as writing a
paper or numerical analysis, were better done sitting but others such as
meetings or going through your inbox were actually more productive when
standing.
To that end the study champions sit-stand adjustable desks, which only 1% of
office workers in the UK have access to, compared with 90% in Scandinavia,
according to research.
They typically cost hundreds of pounds each
but the study says benefits are accrued through improved productivity, less
absenteeism and reduced healthcare costs.
However, the CBI responded
cautiously to the study. “Companies will generally take a commonsense approach,
and offices can be redesigned to encourage different ways of working, but
ultimately firms will seek to balance the practicalities of time spent away
from desks with the needs of the business,” a spokesman said.
Professor Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal
College of GPs, representing members of a profession who were urged
to stand up during consultations in an article in the BMJ last year,
said GPs tended to move about anyway but that the study “provides food for
thought”.
She added: “In many cases – particularly for
smaller organisations – the adjustments necessary to allow employees to stand
for a significant proportion of the day might be unrealistic. It is, however,
important that any employer recognises the responsibility they have to maintain
their employees’ good health.”
Bradley said staff should not feel shy about
standing up at their desk, whatever the reaction of their employer or
colleagues.
“We are all sheep but as soon as the black
sheep has his finger on the pulse and as soon as the shepherd or employer
accepts that, they soon become a white sheep again,” he said.
The study stresses that standing still for
prolonged periods of time also carries health risks and warns that people who
start standing more “could expect musculoskeletal sensations and some fatigue
as part of the positive adaptive process”.
Dr Ann Hoskins, of Public Health England, welcomed
the study but said “more research needs to be carried out before daily targets
for work place activity are recommended”.
Source | http://www.theguardian.com/
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Khaitan
& Co
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