But Can I Sit At Work? The Sitting Problem & How to Fix It!

61j5dodqpll-_sl1000_ — Technology Removes Activity From Our Day (image credit: Amazon)

This article is the 2nd article in a 3-article series on exercise and physical activity recommendations. The first article, Do You Need 10,000 Steps?, discussed this magical daily step goal that we hear so much about. Here, I dig into what we should do about sitting.

By now, you may have heard that “sitting is the smoking.” You may have even been scared right out of your chair! If you are less familiar the harms of sitting, then play catch up with previous BehaviorFit articles: Exercise IS Everything! Exercise ISN’T Everything, A Conference About Sitting.

But is sitting another fad that will come and go? Are we doomed by sitting at work? What can we do about it?

Before jumping into solutions for sitting, it is important to understand the context. Our modern world.

The world is full of technological wonder, yet with innovation comes sacrifice. These celebrated engineering feats have systematically removed physical activity from our daily lives. Voice-to-text replaces handwriting, sensors replace opening doors, and automated ordering (Tide Dash button) replaces even walking to cars to go to the store!

Each small innovation slowly adds up, and voila! The modern sedentary office space is born.

THE SITTING PROBLEM: OUR LIVES ARE LESS ACTIVE

pexels-photo-188710 — How Active Are Our Jobs Anymore?

In just a short time (less than 200 years), we have gone from the Industrial Revolution (manual laborer) to our modern day, Information Age (knowledge worker). Typing this blog is a great example of the “think work” many of use engage in day in and day out. Why is this important?

Across several generations, the type of work has changed (robots now assemble cars) and success no longer depends on physical effort. This has led to major consequences.

Our automated world has now produced a world of knowledge workers. These people spend the majority of their time stationary, sitting at desks, or in board rooms.

STANDING DESKS ARE A FAD?

Yeah, yeah, standing desks are a “fad” and Chelsea Handler poked fun at the standing desk jockeys on her latest Netflix show. But, I have read these “fad” articles and heard the same banter from others.

The REAL issue at hand is: the risks of sitting remain and are real.

Better questions to ask yourself are: Do you think your health is a fad? Are KNOWN health risks a fad?

The quick answer is “no.”

Your health and well-being should not be a popularity contest.

The fad I am referring to is the emergence of standing desk companies and do-it-yourself workstations (putting laptops and keyboards on cardboard boxes). As a natural response to well-documented research, businesses have thrived in this new industry. Hopefully, these fads stick around long enough, reach a critical point, and our culture changes.

There are already signs of the world changing in meaningful ways. Two organizations, GetAmericaStanding and StandUpKids are great examples of creating a more active world. Each organization exists to reduce sitting (sedentary activity) through public health initiatives and bringing more standing options into our work and school day.

THE SITTING PROBLEM: THE RISKS

Before I jump into the recommendations, let’s quickly briefly describe the risks of sitting. Sedentary activity is associated with a number of short- and long-term health risks. Here are just a few:

red-love-heart-valentines — *Sitting and Heart Disease Are Related*

In the short-term, sitting is associated with:

Low back pain
Neck problems
Slower metabolism
Static muscle fatigue
Decreases in muscle activity
Bone loss

In the long-term, sitting is associated with higher risks of:

Diabetes
Obesity
Cardiovascular Disease
Various Cancers

HOW TO FIX IT: YOUR SITTING RECOMMENDATIONS

These risks have led experts to suggest the following recommendations (Buckley, 2015):

Break The Sedentary Pattern Every 30 minutes

Key point: Get out of the static standing or sitting position
Hurdle: Your work may take you into “the zone” and 30 minutes flies by
Solution: Set a timer (or look for other ideas here: 8 Ways To Be Active At Work)

Reduce Total Sedentary Time

Key point: Reduce 2 hours of sedentary time and aim for more
Hurdle: Measuring your sitting time may be difficult know
Solution: Follow this rule – For every 45 minutes of seated time, stand and work for 15 minutes. Do this 8 times each day, and you have reached 2 hours!

DOWNLOAD INFOGRAPHIC OF THESE RECOMMENDATIONS

With these recommendations at hand, here a few behavioral how-to’s to help you reach your activity goals.

Strategy 1: Modify Your Sitting Environment
- Think about your day-to-day activity. How often are you sitting down? What are some activities that easily be swapped for moving? This is a common theme in many of my previous blogs, but very important. Think of it this way: How likely are you to sit down when you enter a new environment? When you go to the movies, you are VERY LIKELY to sit down. When “standing room only” tickets are left for the last game of the World Series, you are LESS LIKELY to sit down. This example is silly, but the point is clear.
Strategy 2: Build Momentum With More Activity
- Yes, the recommendations say to move every 30 minutes, but these blanket statements do not consider the individual. For example, you may be an office worker that works in 2-hour spurts. Going from 0 breaks to 4 breaks can mess up your work flow and mess up your day. So, start with one break every 2 hours, then two, then three…
Strategy 3: Start Small and Build
- Health and behavior change are long (and complicated) processes. You may not be interested in doing EVERYTHING at once or meeting every recommendation at all. While you are building your standing desk and gathering materials, think about what you can do now. That new standing desk may be a couple months down the road for the company budget, but YOU can do something in the meantime. Simply stand up, stretch, or take an extra walking break.

Let’s face it, not every situation will be ideal. You may be stuck in a cramped office meeting, or time slips away. What’s important is being mindful and purposeful about our everyday activities.

If you can be up, moving, and standing while working MOST of the days, you will likely reap the benefits (improved metabolism, increase muscle use) of being more active. But if MOST of your day is spent sitting while working, then it may be unreasonable to expect otherwise.

Yes, you can sit at work. Just break it up and reduce how much you sit. After all, our legs get tired and need a break too! This will be covered in the next article! Stay tuned! Until then…

Keep moving my friends!

-Nick

Reference

Buckley, J. P., Hedge, A., Yates, T., Copeland, R. J., Loosemore, M., Hamer, M., … & Dunstan, D. W. (2015). The sedentary office: a growing case for change towards better health and productivity. Expert statement commissioned by Public Health England and the Active Working Community Interest Company. British journal of sports medicine, bjsports-2015.