To Sit or Not To sit - That is the Question!
Well actually no it isn't really.
Experts have declared ‘sitting is the new smoking’ and whilst you may think this is a bit extreme, there is now science behind the truth that prolonged sitting is dangerous to our health.
The average Brit spends 8.9 hours a day sitting down. More of us are working in jobs which see us spending our entire work days sitting down, even those of us who have our own businesses – but sedentary behaviour is often linked to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer and even premature death.
So do you encourage your employees to move about during their day or is it frowned upon if they get up and walk about? Do you get up and move during the day - or do you just stat put? Sat down at your desk?
Do you ( or your employees) take their lunchbreak away from their desk and have chance or somewhere to go for a walk?
It's not all bad news though. As research also shows that there are ways to counteract the effects of prolonged sitting and that is to
Take 2 and a half hours of exercise a week.
Take regular standing up breaks.
Take 5 minutes every hour to walk about, get your circulation going.
Here are some tips that you might like to share with your employees and support them in getting a little more active during the day;
Encourage them (and you) to take their lunch break. It is there for a reason. The law says they should take one and research shows they will be more productive if they do.
Think outside the box – They could stand up whilst they are on the telephone (if of course it is appropriate in the environment)
Encourage walking or standing meetings - not all meetings need to take place sat around a table. People could stand or walk around with their co-workers as you chat – this can help to keep meetings short too!
Could the business invest in some standing desks? Even if they were 'hot desks' so a variety of employees could use them.
Just making your employees aware and enabling a different way of working will keep your workforce healthy and fully functioning at work - which is of course what we all want.
I'd love to hear how you get on if you do implement any new ways of 'non sitting' culture.
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