Sitting at work is a health hazard
Posted by kathryn in Fitness
New research has highlighted the problems with our sedentary lives, even if you’re getting the recommended amount of daily exercise.
Office workers can spend 75% of their day sitting down and this affects the way your body processes fats and sugars, which can leave you at increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.
“If you do 30 to 60 minutes a day of exercise, you tick the box of being active,” says Melbourne exercise researcher, Dr David Dunstan. “But then you potentially have 15 or so hours a day when you’re not sleeping and not exercising that you could be spending predominantly sitting.”
The answer is to break up your sitting as much as possible. You don’t have to be running around the office, it’s believed that even standing up occasionally may be enough to reduce your risk of health problems.
Even little activities like getting up to make a cup of tea can make a difference. “We’ve actually reported that people who break up their sedentary time throughout the day, regardless of their total sedentary time, have a better health profile,” Dunstan says. “It all comes down to moving the muscles.”
You can read the full report, including some great tips on how to move more when you’re at work on the ABC’s website.