Is the 9-5 desk job killing you?
A major Lancet study, which looked at one million adults has found that sitting for at least eight hours a day could increase the risk of premature death by up to 60 per cent, the Telegraph has reported.
Now, office workers are being urged to take five minute breaks every hour, as well as exercising at lunchtime and outside of work, as the research says that just one hour’s activity a day was enough to reverse the damage caused by prolonged sitting.
Scientists said sedentary lifestyles were now posing as great a threat to public health as smoking, and were causing more deaths than obesity.
Lead scientist Professor Ulf Ekelund, from Cambridge University and the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, said: “We found that at least one hour of physical activity per day, for example brisk walking or bike cycling, eliminates the association between sitting time and death.”
A decent walk – at a speed of just over three miles an hour – was enough to achieve the benefit, he stressed.
“You don’t need to do sport, you don’t need to go to the gym, it’s OK doing some brisk walking maybe in the morning, during your lunchtime, after dinner in the evening. You can split it up over the day but you need to do at least one hour,” he said.
Researchers said that:
- the typical modern lifestyle of spending a day in front of a computer, followed by an evening slumped in front of the television was proving fatal;
- whilst they could not pinpoint why long periods of sitting were specifically risky, movement appeared to assist the body’s metabolism, while sedentary periods could influence hormones such as leptin, which regulate energy balance;
- among those who sat for at least eight hours daily and managed less than five minutes’ activity mortality rates were 9.9 per cent;
- those who spent just as long seated, but managed at least an hour’s exercise, saw death rates drop to 6.2 per cent;
- cancer and heart disease were the two most likely causes of death linked to inactivity; and
- around one hour’s activity a day was enough to reverse the damage caused by prolonged sitting.
Similar results were found when the scientists looked at the television viewing habits of a subgroup of about 500,000 people. Watching TV for more than three hours per day was associated with an increased risk of death in all groups except those who managed at least an hour’s exercise.
The research, from 16 studies, is among four papers published recently in The Lancet ahead of the Olympic Games in Brazil.
Read the full article here, or visit The Lancet.
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Is the 9-5 desk job killing you?
A major Lancet study, which looked at one million adults has found that sitting for at least eight hours a
Lauren Applebey
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Hooray, at last we can get past government and employers ‘actively promoted myth’ that “Screen Fatigue and/or Computer Vision Syndrome” (CVS), reported by the majority of DSE user operators, “does no harm” is “temporary” and anyway the debilitating symptoms are just “subjective” and an excuse for poor performance and productivity…
So, the campaign to ensure that the 2012 new EU MSD Directive didn’t reach the light of day has, in fact, been in vain as, there is now little or no doubt that over-exposure to the stresses, strains and fatigue manifested in DSE user operators, over time, has a profound effect on their short term performance and has significant work related risk, longer term, of developing life threatening non-communicable diseases sufficient to shorten the employees working life-cycle.
This has also been the conclusion of other reviews as in the following as an example:
Impact of computer technology on health: Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS)
http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/MPR/article-full-text-pdf/0905F9948599
Probably best not to muddy the waters although, not unrelated to the risks of seated immobility of full time DSE user operators who are more at risk initially, from a DVT in their legs, an embolism that may, of course, travel to the lungs, heart or brain and, if not immediately recognised as “life threatening” and left untreated could very well be with poor survival rates.
It is therefore high time for employers to get off their high horse forget the standard ” I see no ships ” denial and thereby omission to do something, anything to address the issues surrounding the ergonomics of work stress related fatigue directly linked to now proven hazards of over-exposure and introduce a basic set of mitigative or preventitive “given conditions” for DSE user operators.
At present the guide lines include the 20-20 rule for visual breaks and suggests a physical break away from their workstation every hour. However, for full-time operatives, as the human organism starts to be affected by fatigue after around 90 minutes it would make sense to re-introduce a mid morning and afternoon so called, tea break and insist that workers left their workstation for their lunch break.
Needless to say, in order to promote a healthier life-style, guidance to DSE users should also include work/life practices supporting good routine and a structured approach to sustaining effective sleep patterns, reducing the hazards associated with sleep deprivation, exacerbated by not coming off-screen at least an hour or two before bedtime adversely affecting their body clock or circadian rhythms and disrupting the quality of restorative sleep.
Screen Fatigue, affecting some 58% + of DSE users on average over the last 30 years, has manifested in at least a 20% reduction in productivity after three hours on-screen or 30 + days lost productivity yet, it is now clear that a good percentage of that presenteeism maybe recovered if DSE operators worked smarter rather than harder and for longer !
All this study proves, is that sedentary lifestyles are not conducive to good health, which is not an earth shattering conclusion. I’m afraid the hyperbole expressed by Nigel, using this report to link directly to DSE operatives; is unfounded.
the report clearly states that exercise will negate the effects of sitting all day and it is down to the individuals to develop a more active lifestyle; not the employer! I have progressed to an expatriate senior management role in Africa and work 0630 – 1800, 6 days a week over 15 weeks and then get a 4 week break to recharge the batteries. This means I am sat at my desk for the vast majority of this time and also travel to spend time on the operational mine sites, where the days are 0545 – 1800. How do I cope? By getting off my back-side 5 days a week when in the office, going to the gym for an hour (6 days and after work on mine sites) and then swimming and relaxing at the week-end. Most of my colleagues have the same attitudes.
It is a personal choice to be sedentary after work and the added obesity factor, which again is a lifestyle choice; is the main reasons for the lack of fitness and health epidemic which is covering the developed world. The African nationals working in my office do not suffer from obesity, MSD’s etc. When will we all, as OH&S professionals start to be honest with our staff and explain that being sedentary at work is one thing, but then maintaining this and drinking too much, eating take-away meals / microwave meals etc. (the growth of the apps for ordering food to be delivered is mind boggling) and sitting in front of the TV every night; is not conducive to a long, healthy and happy life!
“Among those who sat for at least eight hours daily and managed less than five minutes’ activity mortality rates were 9.9 per cent.
But those who spent just as long seated, but managed at least an hour’s exercise, saw death rates drop to 6.2 per cent.”
Statistics – so if I don’t exercise my mortality rate is 9.9%, but if I do exercise it drops to 6.2% say a 60% (9.9/6.2) benefit: OR is it only a 3.7% (9.9-6.2) improvement? How are we going to ‘sell’ the message? How are we going to ‘sell’ this message honestly?