Yahoo Lifestyle Mandatory standing could be introduced in your office
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How would you feel if it was illegal to sit at your desk for longer than two hours every day? That could become a new workforce reality, if Professor Jonathon Shaw has his way.
Shaw, who works at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, conducted a 12-year study looking at the health of 11,000 Aussies aged between 25-34.
His findings? Around 269 adults are diagnosed with diabetes each day, with those falling in the 25-34 age bracket weighing more than their younger or older counterparts. What’s more, the rate of diabetes is fives times higher for obese people.
"The health and well-being of a whole generation of Australians is being compromised by a lifestyle rich in energy dense foods and low on physical activity," he said.
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His suggestion to tackle the weighty issue: "We need changes to occupational health and safety regulations so it is not allowed for people to sit for two hours at a time without a break," he said.
"I think everything should be on the table - taxation levers, town planning, even the layout of office spaces needs to be reconsidered to tackle the growing personal and community impact of chronic disease," he says.
Study participants over estimated how much exercise they thought they were doing by 50 per cent. Yep, volunteers reckon they spent clocked in around 200 minutes a day sitting but the official chair-time quota came in at an average of 500 minutes.
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The report, known as “AusDiab”, also found that over the 12 year period the average gain in waist circumference for volunteers was 5.3cm, and greater in females.
But physical health wasn’t the only concerning finding: rates of depression were 65 per cent higher in people with diabetes, while levels of cognitive impairments were double compared to diabetes-free volunteers.
“A rule banning sitting for more than two hours might not go down well with employers but they should "look on it as a long-term investment in their employees.”
