Getting out of that chair could save your life.
Avoiding prolonged sitting is just as important as doing regular exercise. For maximal health benefits it’s important to address both. If your work is sedentary and you don’t have a good system to make sure that you’re changing position regularly during the day you may be increasing your risk of a number of chronic diseases.
The evidence is not yet conclusive as to whether prolonged standing in one position is any better for you, so the healthiest recommendation is to ensure that you change position during the day regularly and break up sedentary activity with ‘walk’ or ‘stretch’ breaks.
Strategies to get you moving
Here a couple of ideas to consider incorporating into your work routine to
Having walking meetings with your colleagues
Alternating between sitting and using a standing workstation
Standing or walking when you’re on the phone
Walking to talk to a colleague rather than emailing them.
If you’re someone who gets caught up in their work or are typically too busy to think about your posture, using an app to remind you might be worth thinking about some examples:
SafeWork Australia has done some great work in partnership with ‘BeUpstanding’ a free program designed by the University of Queensland which is definitely worth a look BeUpstanding program