Page 5 - PA_Enterprise_May-2022
P. 5
PAE
As we pass our two-year anniversary of using
kitchen tables, beds and even ironing boards as
desks, we explore how sitting still from 9-5 can
take a toll on our bodies and minds. Here’s a
handful of workplace hacks to avoid a sedentary
day – and why you really need to use them.
On any given pre-Covid day, we took for The science behind a sedentary day
granted the amount we moved. We’d walk to To put it bluntly, we need to sit less and move
train stations, stand on the tube, climb sets of more.
stairs, walk to meeting rooms, meet friends for
evening meals and eventually journey home. Sitting for long, uninterrupted periods of time
is said to slow down your metabolism, which
Though none of that felt like exercise, it all hinders your body’s ability to regulate its blood
added up to a fairly mobile day. But since pressure and its blood sugar levels.
working from home, our step counts have
diminished into the microcosms of our homes In fact, sitting has been dubbed our
– from table to fridge, from couch to bed, and generation’s ‘new smoking’, and it’s been
weather-permitting, from home and back. called a ‘lethal activity’ by James Levine, a
doctor of endo crinology at the Mayo Clinic. In
In fact, data published by Vitality in 2020 fact, after just an hour of sitting down, studies
highlighted a 28% drop in physical events, have suggested there’s a 90% decline in the
“such as cardio sessions, daily step counts production of enzymes that burn fat. But the
and gym workouts, during a two week period, dangers extend to our mental health, too.
from 16 to 26 March, compared to the 10
weeks period of 6 January to 15 March.” A study of 3,300 workers who sat at their
This was most prominently driven by a sharp desks for over six hours a day scored
decline in the number of people reaching their much higher in psychological distress tests
daily step counts. compared to those who sat for just three
hours. And regardless of how much leisurely
What’s worse is that whilst working from exercise they did, the stats held true.
home, our bodies have been deprived of office
furniture – which, in most cases, is designed As the research around sitting being the
ergonomically to support our posture, the new smoking began to surface over the last
angle of our necks and even our proximity to decade, many workforces turned to standing
our screens. desks as a solution. But in an interview years
May 2022 5
