Shedworkers need to stand up more to get healthier

Shedworkers, homeworkers and indeed anybody who works in a 'traditional' office should be on their feet for at least two hours every day during working hours, according to recommendations in the first ever UK guidance designed to curb the health risks of too much cumulative sitting time.

Published online today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the authors of the report say that this daily quota should eventually be bumped up to four hours a day, breaking up prolonged periods of sitting with the use of sit-stand desks, standing based work, and regular walk-abouts.

The guidance was drawn up by a panel of international experts chosen by Public Health England and Active Working CIC) comes in the wake of the growing body of research linking prolonged periods spent seated ― as opposed to being generally physically inactive ― with a heightened risk of serious illness and premature death.

“For those working in offices, 65-75% of their working hours are spent sitting, of which more than 50% of this is accumulated in prolonged periods of sustained sitting,” says the report. “The evidence is clearly emerging that a first ‘behavioural’ step could be simply to get people standing and moving more frequently as part of their working day.”

They recommend:
* 2 hours daily of standing and light activity (light walking) during working hours, eventually progressing to a total of 4 hours for all office workers whose jobs are predominantly desk based * Regularly breaking up seated based work with standing based work, with the use of adjustable sit-stand desks/work stations
* Avoidance of prolonged static standing, which may be as harmful as prolonged sitting
* Altering posture/light walking to alleviate possible musculoskeletal pain and fatigue as part of the adaptive process
* Encouraging staff to embrace other healthy behaviours, such as cutting down on drinking and smoking, eating a nutritious diet, and alleviating stress,  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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