Monday 15 October 2012

A Must Read: Having A desk job leads to a shorter life as sitting down all days doubles the risk of diabetes and heart attacks

                        Bad for your health: Sitting at a desk all day can increase the risk of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes  

Research shows that lounging in a chair for too long can double the risk of diabetes, heart disease and death.
The findings indicate that sitting is bad in itself, irrespective of other time spent exercising or playing sport.

Scientists analysed the results of 18 studies with a total of 794,577 participants and found a big difference in health outcomes between the most and least sedentary. Hmm...Continue to read

 
Professor Stuart Biddle, from the University of Loughborough, who was one of the researchers, said office staff should take a stand for health by refusing to sit down at meetings and moving their work station to the nearest filing cabinet.
He added: 'Currently society forces us into too much sitting, sitting at school, sitting at office desks, sitting in cars and so on.

There are many ways we can reduce our sitting time, such as breaking up long periods at the computer at work by placing our laptop on a filing cabinet.

'We can have standing meetings, we can walk during the lunch break, and we can look to reduce TV viewing in the evenings by seeking out less sedentary behaviours.'
Prof Biddle practices what he preaches. He has a reminder note on his white board at work that says: 'First 15 minutes of a meeting standing up'.

He added: 'I get a few odd looks - sometimes people think you're nuts or assume you have a bad back. But I've had quite a lot of positive feedback too. Standing up at a meeting makes you appear more animated and seems to make a good impression.

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