This post is by Anthony Savage of Sparta Health
Over the course of the years, the world has moved to an office-based economy. Before the industrial revolution, the vast majority of employment was physical, but with the ability to use machines to replace humans for manual labour, work began to be increasingly defined by services completed within an office. Of course, the natural consequence of this is that a lot more people started spending a lot more time sitting down, first staring at pieces of paper, and now staring at computer screens. However, recent years have brought significant concerns over the potential physical and mental health problems that a sedentary office lifestyle could pose. Much like cigarette smoking, it may be the case that sitting for 8 hours a day has been slowly killing us, while we toil away none the wiser.
According to one study of office workers in Perth, Australia, which measured the amount of time the participants spent immobile using a wearable accelerometer, sedentary time accounted for 81.8% of work hours, which was significantly greater than sedentary time during non-work time (1). In terms of total weekly sedentary time, work time contributed 36.5 hours (48.5% of total sedentary time) with all non-work time contributing 38.7 hours (51.5%). In other words, almost half of all the office worker’s sedentary time was concentrated during the 40 hour work week, meaning office work contributes to prolonged periods of inactive sedentary time in a way that leisure does not appear to. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that in this study, sustained sedentary time (bouts >30 mins) was proportionally greater on work days compared to non-work days, and also during work hours on work days compared to non-work hours on work days and total non-work time over a whole week.
So what’s wrong with so much sedentary time? Quite a lot, it turns out. One study established a dose-response association between sitting time and mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), independent of leisure time physical activity (2). In other words, not only does increased sitting time correlate directly with mortality and CVD, this effect does not appear to be compensated for by physical activity in leisure time. Therefore, being sedentary during work hours, but partaking in regular exercise outside of work is not an appropriate solution from the point of view of workers’ health. Furthermore, a systematic literature review concluded that “there is a growing body of evidence that sedentary behaviour may be a distinct risk factor, independent of physical activity, for multiple adverse health outcomes in adults” (3). Hence, the idea that sedentary time is harmful and cannot be compensated for using exercise is not just supported by one paper but is becoming an established fact within the scientific community. To make matters worse, sedentary time has also been associated with adverse mental health (4).
Overall, increased sedentary time has been shown to have a detrimental effect on mental and physical health, and workers are spending more time sitting down than ever before. To combat this, an international group of experts concluded that “for those occupations which are predominantly desk based, workers should aim to initially progress towards accumulating 2 hours a day of standing and light activity (light walking) during working hours, eventually progressing to a total accumulation of 4 hours per day (prorated to part-time hours)” (5). This should be done via breaking up seated work with standing work, the use of sit-stand desks, or the taking of short active standing breaks at regular intervals. Employers need to consider this a health priority, similar to ensuring that workers get enough exercise, eat healthily and are not under excessive stress. In the modern world, it can be easy to forget that we are animals and did not evolve to be as inactive as we often are. Careful vigilance must be employed to keep workers healthy, happy, and standing.
About Anthony Savage
Anthony Savage is the Medical Services Manager at Sparta Health, having joined the team in 2017 and is responsible for the overall operational delivery of our high quality services to our clients. He has a solid background in workplace physiology, health and safety, as well over 12 years of delivering, and holding senior management positions, for leading injury and condition management providers.
He is known for his innovative approach in his design and execution of services and his ability to build enduring relationships.
References:
- Parry S, Straker L. The contribution of office work to sedentary behaviour associated risk. BMC Public Health. 2013 Apr 4;13(1):296.
- Katzmarzyk PT, Church TS, Craig CL, Bouchard C. Sitting Time and Mortality from All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2009 May;41(5):998–1005.
- Thorp AA, Owen N, Neuhaus M, Dunstan DW. Sedentary Behaviors and Subsequent Health Outcomes in Adults: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies, 1996–2011. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2011 Aug 1;41(2):207–15.
- Hamer M, Coombs N, Stamatakis E. Associations between objectively assessed and self-reported sedentary time with mental health in adults: an analysis of data from the Health Survey for England. BMJ Open. 2014 Mar 1;4(3):e004580.
- Buckley JP, Hedge A, Yates T, Copeland RJ, Loosemore M, Hamer M, et al. The sedentary office: an expert statement on the growing case for change towards better health and productivity. Br J Sports Med. 2015 Nov 1;49(21):1357–62.