Julia Woodman before Alex

Julia Woodman shows how you should not be sitting!!

Research co-commissioned by Public Health England calls for a workplace revolution through use of sit-stand desks to avoid risks of a sedentary lifestyle

Office workers should spend a minimum of two hours on their feet at work – building up to an ideal four hours – in order to avoid the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle, according to a study co-commissioned by Public Health England.

Research has long linked excessive time spent sitting to increased risk of morbidity or premature death but the advice, co-commissioned by Public Health England and published on Monday, represents the first time British workers have been provided with quantifiable targets for getting out of their seats.

The study authors, who include experts from the UK, US and Australia, call for a revolution in the workplace through the use of sit-stand desks, standing-based work and regular walkabouts.

They also urge further research into whether facilities such as toilets should be moved further away from staff, some emails could be replaced by hand-delivered messages and employees could have alarms on computers or personal motion assessment devices prompting them to move.

Study co-author Gavin Bradley, from Active Working, a community interest company which co-commissioned the study and set upwww.getbritainstanding.org, said: “We are creatures of habit and we have come to the wrong conclusion, that sitting is the optimum way of conducting office work. We need an environment where people feel much more liberated to do desk standing.”

The full article can be read in The Guardian 

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