Many of you know I’m so keen on movement and exercise, I cannot say it enough. We all need to keep active. In Britain, we sit on average for 8.9 hours a day. Sitting longer than 4 hours a day clearly adds several health risks along with back pain: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, to name a few. Log on to getbritainstanding.org to calculate your time sitting; you may be shocked!
There has been a lot of national news recently about the advantages of standing some of the time at work.
Instead of sitting or standing for hours, the advice is to try “mixing it up” with bursts of sitting and standing throughout the day – try not to sit for more than 30-45 minutes at a time. You burn 50% more calories an hour when standing than sitting, and active working increases production and well-being.
Most sedentary workers should aim to initially progress from 2 hours a day of standing and light activity (light walking) to 4 hours a day standing.
To achieve this, sit–stand desks are the best solution, or the taking of short active standing breaks, like going for a walk. Perhaps you can just put your laptop on a shelf and try to work standing for a short time? You’ll have less back and neck ache and start to feel healthier, fitter and happier!
If you require any further advice or a workstation assessment please pop into the clinic for an informal chat. I’m passionate about good desks and seating; it’s so vital for our health!
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[…] I was very interested to watch the BBC Horizon program with Michael Mosley. It is clear that exercise is very important. It is also clear that we are all different so what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for another – we do need to find an individual exercise programme that works for each of us. The last statement “there’s one thing for sure, that sitting is a killer” rings true to me. […]