Integritus Prime

Smoking is related to ill health such as cancers, respiratory conditions and heart disease, and now prolonged periods of sitting is also being flagged as similarly damaging.  When we sit for 8 hours or more a day for 6 to 7 days a week, we are asking for trouble. Granted that the jobs we have help us pay our bills, keep us out of debt and help us achieve our goals, but at what expense to our wellbeing? To suffer lifestyle diseases at forty and die prematurely without having lived to enjoy life – is that worth paying our bills?

Some jobs require people to sit and do prolonged periods of work. However, this work can still be achieved by being mindful of one’s own health and wellness, and with less sitting.

Usually lawyers, software designers and programmers, accountants and HR managers are the ones who tend to sit a lot during the workday. What actually happens to our body when we sit a lot is the following:

• A sedentary lifestyle, which may lead to obesity. Energy expenditure decreases, leading to fat accumulation in the body. Physical inactivity also impairs breakdown of fat and sugar in the body.
• Affects breathing, which becomes shallower because the lungs are not being used fully.
• Blood circulation diminishes due to lack of movement and blood pooling may occur.
• Posture deteriorates; hunching may lead to stiffness of neck and backache.
• Some muscles get stretched and strained and may cause chronic joint pains.

These combined effects lead to increased risks for lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cancers, heart diseases as well as deep vein thrombosis (due to prolonged pooling of blood) and mental ill health (anxiety disorders or depression). Exercise and physical activity are usually associated with boosting mental health.

Physical inactivity is linked to more than 3 million preventable deaths per year worldwide and is the 4^th leading cause of death resulting from non-communicable diseases (or lifestyle related diseases).

Strategies to reduce sitting time at home or work office:

1. Consciously change positions every half an hour.
2. Create your workstation in a way that you have to get up and get things from a different location, such as, having the printer in the next office, the photocopier or other office equipment in a different location.
3. Stand up and stretch every hour. Get up and go to a co-worker to discuss things instead of sending a text.
4. Walk up and down the steps at least 4 to 5 times a day or around the balcony for fresh air.
5. Do short exercises around your desk such as stand ups, squats, arm roll, push ups.
6. Get up to drink water every hour, or refill your water bottle or go to the loo.
7. Park your car away from the office so you have to walk the distance to your office.
8. Go out of the premises for breaks and fit in a small walk during lunch.
9. If using public transport, get off one stop before the closest one to the office and walk to the office.
10. Have walking meetings or a stand up desk for office work.

Be mindful and be a good leader for yourself and a role model for your employees and co-workers. You need to be responsible for your own health and motivate your co-workers to take care of their own health and wellbeing.

This blog is written by Dr. Margaret Cornelius.