In 2010, the American Cancer Society released a report in the American Journal of Epidemiology stating that men who sat for six hours or more a day in their leisure time had an overall death rate that was nearly 20 per cent higher than men who sat for three hours or less in the 14-year follow-up period. And women who sat for more than six hours a day had a death rate that was almost 40 per cent higher. Similar results were published in Archives of Internal Medicine stating that people who sit for long periods are at more risk of dying early.

That’s why many wellness oriented companies now have standing desks for employees—i.e. employees do not sit for working on desktop but they are provided with special desks which allow to them carry out their work while standing. Many people alternate between standing and sitting. There is also a trend of using a treadmill desk—wherein you walk while you work!

What are the health hazards of sitting?

• When we sit for a long duration, our leg muscles become slack and don’t contract effectively to pump blood to the heart. This leads to pooling of blood in the legs which, in turn, reduces the ability of the blood vessels to expand. Problems range from swollen ankles and varicose veins to dangerous blood clots called deep vein thrombosis [DVT].
• This sluggish blood flow also leads to deposition of fat in blood vessels, clogging them which further limits the oxygen and nutrient supply to the brain slowing down the brain function.
• Chronic sitters use their hip muscles to a lesser extent, which is a reason for decreased hip stability commonly causing fall in the elderly population.
• If most of your sitting happens at your workstation, craning your neck forward toward a keyboard or tilting your head to cradle a phone while typing can strain the cervical vertebrae and lead to permanent imbalances giving rise to variety of conditions ranging from muscular pain to spondylosis.
• It is a well-known fact that prolonged sitting leads to permanent postural defects and spinal injuries.
• When you sit, your upper-body weight rests entirely on the sitting bones instead of being distributed along the spine leading to pain in tail bone region.
• Lack of inactivity is one of the reasons for increasing incidence of osteoporosis.
• People who sit more are at greater risk for herniated lumbar disc [slipped disc].

Contrary to prolonged sitting, standing causes cellular changes that improve muscular and metabolic function of the body. When we walk or move about, soft discs between the vertebrae expand and contract like sponges, soaking up fresh blood and nutrients. But when we sit for an extended period, these discs are squashed unevenly leading to spinal problems.

• Prolonged sitting disrupts the metabolic functions slowing them down by 90 per cent after only 30 minutes of sitting, raising plasma triglycerides, cholesterol and blood sugar. And after two hours, good cholesterol drops by 20 per cent. Sitting for long has been linked to high blood pressure. It substantially increases growth factors that lead to cancer especially colon cancer, endometrial cancer and breast cancer.
• Researches have suggested that sitting for long hours impact mental wellbeing of workers, increasing the incidence of reduced social skills, anxiety and depression.

How do I know if I am sitting too much?

If you’ve been sitting for an hour at a stretch, you’ve been sitting for too long. We should all be up at least 10 minutes out of every hour.

People who don’t exercise can be healthier even if all they do is reduce the amount of time they sit. In fact, if you go to the gym regularly or walk for 30 – 45 minutes a day, but sit down the rest of the time, you are still leading a “sedentary lifestyle”.

Recent research even showed that just three hours of sitting was sufficient to cause damage to blood vessels, but when the sitting time was interrupted by a gentle 10-minute cycling session, no decline in vascular function was recorded.

How can I reduce my sitting time?

At home:

• Take the stairs instead of using the lift
• Make sure you get up and walk around after every 30min of sitting
• Walk 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day
• Swap some TV time for more active tasks or hobbies
• Avoiding sitting whenever possible.

At work:

• Have alternate breaks of sitting and standing at work
• Break up periods of sitting or standing by doing simple exercises at your desk
• To work standing, raise the level of laptop by placing it over a stand, box or books
• Stand or walk around while on the phone
• Take a walk break every time you take a coffee or tea break
• Have standing meetings
• Avoid driving continuously for more than 50 minutes; take a short break of 2 – 3 minutes in between
• You may consider using standing workstations.

Special advice for parents

As children are spending less time doing physical activities and more time watching TV or playing video games, parents must establish healthy habits during the early years in order to protect them from future health imbalances.

• Lead by example by reducing their TV time and other sitting-based tasks
• Keep a limit on TV/screen time
• Make bedrooms a TV- and computer-free zone
• Encourage participation in house chores and outdoor games
• Choose gifts such that encourage physical activities
• Reduce time spent in infant carriers, car seats or high chairs

Wish you all healthy spine and joints!

The post The Hidden and Obvious Dangers of Sitting Too Long appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Yet, one of the most striking findings from this study was that the men with short bursts of activity as part of their routine work had significantly lower death rates from heart disease. These were the dock workers who loaded cargo as new ships came in and out of port. This is the type of regular activity that was built in to a wide variety of jobs just 50 years ago.

The high cost of increasing efficiency

Back then, jobs requiring moderate physical activity accounted for about half of the labour market. Today, only 20 per cent of jobs require real activity. This transformational shift mirrors increases in diabetes and obesity rates. You can now accomplish countless tasks with the click of a mouse and a few keystrokes. While this increases efficiency, it comes at the expense of our physical health.

This epidemic of inactivity spans the globe. From the United States to India and China, technology—from computers to washing machines—minimises the need for manual labour, and our health suffers as a result. The way we cook, clean, work and make products no longer requires strenuous activity.

Because of these seismic shifts in activity levels, you now have to find ways to infuse deliberate movement into your day. If you work in a traditional office setting, it is in your company’s best interest to ensure you get some activity during the workday.

Emerging research suggests companies that provide employees with time to exercise, even during working hours, do not lose any business. In fact, this research shows how you could be more productive if your organisation gives you time to exercise during the workday. Even if you end up working fewer hours in a week, the trade-off is a net positive for you and your organisation. Other studies find that employees see significant increase in overall earnings as their activity levels rise.

The good news is that many employers are taking notice. A friend of mine recently lost 50 pounds. When I asked him how he did it, he gave nearly all the credit to the encouragement he received from his colleagues and programmes his employer offered.

Even if your peer group at work is not very active, consider what you can do to start a positive trend. Find a few moments each day when you can walk briskly. Do a few push-ups or spot jogging or anything else to break up a 10-hour span of limited activity. Ask a colleague to do a walking meeting instead of sitting on uncomfortable chairs.

The late Steve Jobs was famous for requiring colleagues and clients to go on walking meetings around his neighbourhood. When a reporter asked him why he did that, Jobs said that he could think better when he walked. If nothing else, make sure you get up several times a day and move around your workspace. Sedentary work can make you fat, sick and tired. Building movement into your daily routine will provide a buffer against today’s sedentary lifestyle. As a leading public health researcher put it, “In many ways we’ve engineered physical activity out of our lives, so we’ve got to find ways to put it back into our lives.”

The dangers of desktop dining

Early in my career, having lunch with a group of friends from work was one of the best parts of my day. Some days we would all go out to eat, but most of the time, we grabbed lunch in the cafeteria. Either way, it provided a mental break from what I was working on and forced me to get up and move around. Most importantly, it was quality social time with my friends.

However, as the demands of my job increased over the next couple of years, my lunchtime pattern changed. On most days, I considered myself too busy for an extended lunch and opted to eat at my desk. This allowed me to devour my food as quickly as possible, usually hunched over my keyboard reading emails. By eating at my desk I got lunch ‘out of the way’ in about five minutes, compared to the 50 minutes it took to eat with my friends.

I justified eating at my desk by telling myself it made me more productive. In hindsight, desktop dining had the opposite effect. It was bad for my relationships with colleagues, I had less physical energy, I was less satisfied with my job at the end of the workday and had fewer ideas to contribute.

When I have a busy day, I still eat at my desk. But I can now see how it is a trap because I eat more at my desk than I do when I am paying attention. By sitting and eating at my desk, I also miss an opportunity to engage in some sort of mid-day activity.

According to various studies, roughly two-thirds of workers eat lunch at their desks. And a majority don’t take time for regular breaks during the workday. This can result in trouble focussing and less time for creative thought. So to prevent that, use lunch as a natural stopping point in the middle of a busy day. Take a short walk; get outside for some fresh air. Or find somewhere to eat with a few friends at work. Use your lunch-break as a reminder to exercise and make it an energising social time.

Working while intoxicated

Sleep less, achieve less. It’s really that simple. According to a study from Harvard Medical School, lack of sleep costs the American economy $63 billion a year in lost productivity alone. In the words of one of the lead researchers, “Americans are not missing work because of insomnia. They are still going to their jobs but they’re accomplishing less because they’re tired. In an information-based economy, it’s difficult to find a condition that has a greater effect on productivity.”

Sleep-deprived driving can be just as hazardous as drunk driving; 75 per cent of the time when a truck driver runs someone off the road, driver fatigue is a prominent factor. According to one scientist who has studied this extensively, four hours of sleep loss produces as much impairment as drinking a six-pack of beer. A whole night of sleep loss is equivalent to a staggering blood alcohol level of 0.19 per cent. That’s double most legal limits.

Working on little sleep is not much better. There is a reason why surgeons and pilots now have mandated periods of rest before they are allowed to operate or fly an airplane. In 2010, an Air India 737 crashed, killing 158 people. When investigators listened to the data recorder, what they heard was “heavy nasal snoring” in the cockpit. This is just one example; hundreds are killed every year by people who get too little sleep.

If you care about the quality of your work and interactions with your peers, give sleep the priority it deserves. To make this possible, your work needs to be satisfying. Poor sleep quality is nearly twice as common among those who are least satisfied with their jobs. Even if you are not in your dream job today, it’s up to you to make sure work is not keeping you up every night. Any job is likely to cause a sleepless night on occasion. But I’m amazed by how many people go through weeks, months, or years of dealing with poor sleep due to work stress or job dissatisfaction.

It’s hard to imagine that any job is worth the damage it does to your health over time.

Excerpted from Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath [© 2013 by Tom Rath]

This was first published in the November 2014 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

The post Warning! Your working style might be killing you slowly appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.