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In business, spending extended time sitting is generally unavoidable, but doctors are becoming increasingly aware of the dangerous health effects associated with constant sitting. Standing all day may not be possible, but there are some tips and tricks to try to combat some of the negative side effects of being sedentary.
There is a staggering amount of convincing research about the perils of sitting. In the scientific world, it’s similar to how the community views global warming, smoking, and sugar consumption–an overwhelming consensus. Sitting is bad for you. You are slowly killing yourself by sitting all day long, which is why more and more businesses are turning to different desk approaches.
Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic is one of the earliest and most vocal critics of sitting. In sources as varied as The New York Times, Salon, and Discovery News, Levine claims that excessive sitting is "a lethal activity.” He is even credited with creating a name for what we’re facing: “sitting disease.”
Sitting all day long is so bad that it can’t even be outdone by exercise. There’s a phrase for what a lot of us are: “active couch potatoes,” who make a point of exercising each day, but otherwise spend the rest of the time sitting in the car, on the couch, or at a desk. Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist and research fellow in biology at Imperial College London, who writes on the “influence of science and biology on modern life” for The New York Times, says, "Sitting all day long is so bad that it can’t even be outdone by exercise.
“It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting — in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home — you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.”
What can people in business do to avoid the many bad side effects of prolonged sitting?
More and more businesses are investing in alternatives to the traditional desk and chair, such as:
WireCutter did a review of standing desks here.
There are also free apps for web browsers like Chrome to remind you to take a break every 30 minutes or so.
Bottom line: Invest in alternatives to a sitting desk and make moving around throughout the day a habit to avoid the problems that come from being seated all day.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is an award-winning marketing and sales expert at the sales lead generation company Find New Customers. Creator and host of the popular and syndicated show, Marketing Made Simple TV, he interviews the best and brightest business leaders. Find Jeff @fearlesscomp on Twitter, visit Marketing Made Simple TV on Facebook, or connect with him on LinkedIn. Jeff is also a popular keynote speaker on marketing and social media.
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