Studies have shown that prolonged sitting is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and an increased risk of death from heart disease and cancer. It can also slow down metabolism, which has an impact on the body’s ability to regulate blood pressure and blood sugar, as well as to break down body fat.
Introducing some physical activity into the work day could reduce some of the health risks that are raised by this sedentary lifestyle. How can you be active when you work at a desk for 7-10 hours a day? It seems like a challenge but here we give you some simple guidelines to achieve it.
1. Ride your bike or walk to work
Depending on our work location and how far work is from home, we should try to change the way we get in and out of work. Leaving the car at home and walking or cycling is a solution.
Compared to commuting to work by car or public transport, cycling to work has been linked to a lower risk of death from all causes and a lower risk of cancer.
Both riding a bike and walking to work have also been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
Also, people who walk or bike to work have lower body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage in middle age than those who ride a car.
They also benefit from better well-being and report greater ability to concentrate and less stress than those who commute to work in their own vehicle.
2. Stand up regularly
Something as simple as standing up once in a while while at work could help curb the health-related risks of sitting for too long.
To reduce sedentary behavior and time spent sitting at work, a team of experts published guidance in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2015. The team concluded that office workers were required to stand for at least 2 hours during your work day, to break up the long session.
The researchers believe that incorporating standing behaviors (such as tall work tables or standing desks) into the work day might be more feasible for workers than directed exercise.
More and more companies are embracing the use of standing desks as more evidence about its benefits comes to light.
3. Move more
Moving more may seem like an obvious move when trying to be less sedentary, but when we are in the depths of a project, it is easy to go many hours without any movement and without realizing it. To avoid this, take the stairs instead of the elevator to get to work and on your break, for example.
Various studies have found that for every extra hour of sitting for more than 5 hours, waist size increases by 2 centimeters and the risk of cardiovascular disease by 0.2%.
Even when you are sitting you do not necessarily need to be still; moving in the seat could also make a difference.
A study led by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom suggested that small movements, such as the restless leg movement, could counteract some of the adverse effects of a prolonged sitting session.
Research has shown that vascular function is impaired after 6 hours of sitting at a desk. However, taking a walk around the office for 10 minutes after a long period of time sitting can restore vascular health. To counteract sitting time, walk to a co-worker’s desk instead of texting him, take the stairs, leave the car not excessively close to work, rearrange your desk so you have to get up to find tools you need for work, stand up to answer the mail …
4. Reorganize the work environment
Incorporating physical activity into our work day has numerous health benefits, as it reduces absences from work and increases cognitive abilities, mood and productivity. Considering all the positive results of being less sedentary, our boss might be open to changing the work environment to provide more movement options.
Some companies already offer stretching classes before work, yoga breaks during office hours, and lunchtime running groups to help workers take care of their well-being and increase work efficiency.
A study that examined the effect of a redesigned work environment found that, in addition to workers losing weight and body fat, the company’s revenue increased nearly 10% in the first few months of the study.
5. Take care of lunch / food
Instead of eating lunch in front of the computer while checking your phone and answering emails, take a break and do something physically active. You’ll return to work feeling refreshed, revived, and better able to focus for the rest of the day. During the lunch break you can ride a bike, swim, walk … any kind of help will motivate us for the remaining hours in the office.
A study of more than 1 million people revealed that staying physically active for at least an hour a day can eliminate the increased risk of death related to sitting for 8 hours a day.
People who sat for 8 hours a day but were physically active were less likely to be at risk of premature death than people who sat for fewer hours but were totally inactive.
No matter how we try to stay active during the work day, the important thing to remember is that any movement, even for just 10 minutes, is better than standing still and not moving all day.
