With COVID-19, several workers in many industries have moved to working from home, meaning most will have had an increase in their sitting times but what are the Health Risks of Sitting for extended periods?
Dubbed the “Sitting Disease” (and referred to as “Sitting is the new smoking”) there are very distinct correlations between the number of hours seated and risk for disease and mortality.
The sedentary nature of some Australian workplaces is becoming as much of a health risk as smoking for many workers.
Office workers will spend 80,000 hours of their life sitting down, the average Australian now sits for more than nine hours a day, contributing to a pool of chronic, long-term ailments including arthritis and bursitis.
Recent research shows that even if they work out regularly, workers that spend most of their day sitting down face a higher risk of muscular-skeletal disorders, obesity, type II diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and premature death.
Sedentary employees also have lower productivity and use more sick days.
Some control measures provided by SafeWork NSW to assist employers in reducing the above risks for their workers include:
- Reviewing and revising job and task design to minimise sitting time.
- Varying work tasks throughout a shift to encourage posture change and muscle use.
- Promote a ‘standing-friendly culture’ – a standing reading area and standing at meetings.
- Introduce height adjustable desks so employees can work standing or sitting.
- Encourage workers to walk over and talk to colleagues instead of emailing.
- Suggest workers use the stairs instead of the lift and use a bathroom further away.
- Encourage workers to eat lunch away from their desk.
Source: Better Health
Title: The dangers of sitting: why sitting is the new smoking
Read Time: 5 minutes