The new report into the typical lifestyle of an office worker highlights why many people are at risk of developing obesity, or are already obese. Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers and poor mental health have all been linked to sedentary behavior. A desk-bound job requires little in the way of physical activity. The headline figures from the research are:
A typical office worker spends more time sitting than a typical person aged over 75 years old.
Middle-aged men spend close to half an hour longer seated every weekday than a retiree.
Working women aged under 45 fall only six minutes short of the activity levels of elderly people.
These figures reflect the changing forms of employment, where manufacturing has shifted to services, and the tendency towards a longer-hours working culture. The data used for the analysis was drawn from a U.K. survey of national health, looking at the records of some 14,000 people living in Scotland.
The lead researcher, Dr. Tessa Strain (University of Edinburgh), told The Daily Mail: ‘We do have this belief that sitting for long periods is a problem for pensioners. But most people do not realize how much time they are also spending sitting down, especially office workers, because it is just such a part of everyday life.”
She adds: “Older people might spend hours of uninterrupted time sitting, but younger people, while they might get up more often, are off their feet for around the same volume of time. Large parts of the population are dangerously sedentary – something we have underestimated.”
Trends are similar in the U.S., where equivalent research has shown a typical U.S. adult spends nine to 10 hours each day sitting. This is such a level of inactivity that even a 30- or 60-minute workout cannot counteract its effects (as the British Journal of Sport Medicine has reported).
The new research is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and the research paper is titled “Differences by age and sex in the sedentary time of adults in Scotland.”
Technological solution?
Solutions to this include encouraging people to take more exercise in the the leisure time and using technology like sit-to-stand desks, which can move up and down, to reduce work sedentary time. A related technological idea is the treadmill desk that enables a person to ‘walk’ whilst working. These are desks with a modified treadmill base attached to a counter level work surface. Most belts are designed to go at a low speed, within the 1-2 miles per hour range.
