Changing Workplace Health Culture

Addressing Prolonged Occupational Sitting Time

Prolonged occupational sitting time (POST) is a silent killer for even the healthiest of working adults. Currently, an office-based worker spends an average of 80,000 hours sitting during the course of their working life¹. Recent data suggests that POST of four hours or more is a health risk for all desk-based employees^2-7. Exposure to this hazard increases the risk of suffering from diseases related to increased morbidity and mortality. Moreover, a worker's increased level of fitness may only ameliorate some of the risk^8-10. That is, even workers with high levels of physical fitness may still be at risk if they sit for more than four hours per day. Research from the Baker IDI institute^11-13 showed an association between POST and increases in waist girth, weight, body mass index and negative blood lipid profiles (i.e., blood glucose, lipoprotein lipase [LPL]), irrespective of current fitness level. Evidence¹⁴ from bus drivers involved in sedentary employment has demonstrated that they are twice as susceptible to contracting cardiovascular disease (CVD) than bus conductors who regularly engage in standing or light activities during work. In more direct evidence related to POST⁸, individuals who sat for prolonged periods were nearly three times more likely to experience CVD relative to individuals who sat for shorter amounts of time. Data³ revealed that when individuals were immobilized during bed rest, this resulted in a 27 percent lower level of LPL, which is comparable to levels seen in routine sedentary living. Individuals who work in desk-based workplace environments have very little choice in the amount of sitting they do during the typical workday or the type of activities they perform. There is a need for POST to be addressed in the design and prescription of workplace health and wellbeing programs (WHWP) to reverse the adverse health effects associated with such sedentary behaviour.