Are you sitting too much at work?
Most office workers are sitting too much (often with poor posture), and it’s as bad for your health as smoking is.
What is the great myth?
It’s a myth to believe “As long as I do exercise outside of work, I’ll be ok?” Long periods of sitting at work are not undone by doing exercise afterwards.
“It’s a desk job” “I’m too embarrassed” “I’m too tired” “I’m too focused on my work"
does this resonate with you?
The Solution Is Simple
Research says, you stand/move for at least two minutes every thirty minutes and ideally change posture regularly between standing and sitting. With such a simple answer and knowing most office workers know they should stand and move around more, why do we not do this? well the reasons are varied and may be valid at some level but at the end of the day they are just barriers we self-impose.
Are we saying we are more willing to risk ill-health over simple strategies which will help maintain good health. Are aches and pains or headaches from muscle deconditioning, or bad posture OK. Do we consider the risk we are taking when we choose to ignore good health advice? The answer, I hope is no and with some simple self-employed strategies you can put yourself on a much better path. For example, some simple changes could be:
Identify some tasks you can be doing in standing. Phone calls? Meetings? Start standing when you do these tasks.
Drink lots of water. Being hydrated helps reduce headaches and drinking more will also encourage you out of your seat more.
Walk messages to your colleagues more, take the stairs, put the photocopier/printer at a distance to your office.
With a little thought and planning you can put yourself on a significantly better path and then the sky’s the limit with more active workplaces ensuring more physically healthier staff and better productivity with less lost time.
Troy Eady.