Sedentary work
Find out why sedentary work and sedentary lifestyles are bad for our health, and what we can do at work to avoid sitting all day.
Workplace interventions for sedentary workers
There have been a number of studies that have looked at interventions including sit-stand desks, active workstations, active environments, and walking.
The known health impacts of a sedentary lifestyle
Discover the impacts that a sedentary lifestyle and sedentary work can have on health.
Reasons sedentary work can be harmful
Researchers are trying to establish why sedentary work causes harm to workers. Several hypotheses have been generated.
Defining sedentary lifestyles and sedentary work
Sedentary lifestyles
A sedentary lifestyle is one in which low levels of physical activity are achieved and through that limited energy is expended. The majority of the time people are involved in activities including watching TV, computer games, commuting while sitting and working while sitting.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, data from the Ministry of Health estimates that 43.6% of adults are not physically active or have little or no physical activity on a weekly basis. Guidance suggests that we need 2.5 hours of physical activity over a week to maintain health but this should be seen as a minimum
rather than a target.
Sedentary work
Sedentary work also means work where we are sitting the majority of the time. For those of us in office jobs, that could be over 80% of our working day. Additional changes to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic have also increased this sitting time by between 31 and 110 minutes per day.
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Professor of Health and Safety
School of Health
References
- Agarwal, S., Steinmaus, C., & Harris-Adamson, C. (2018). Sit-stand workstations and impact on low back discomfort: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ergonomics, 61(4), 538-552.
- Chambers, A. J., Robertson, M. M., & Baker, N. A. (2019). The effect of sit-stand desks on office worker behavioral and health outcomes: A scoping review [Review]. Applied Ergonomics, 78, 37-53.
- Michalchuk, V. F., Lee, S. J., Waters, C. M., Hong, O. S., & Fukuoka, Y. (2022). Systematic Review of the Influence of Physical Work Environment on Office Workers' Physical Activity Behavior. Workplace Health & Safety, 70(2), 97-119, Article 21650799211039439.
- Morton, S., Fitzsimons, C., Jepson, R., Saunders, D. H., Sivaramakrishnan, D., & Niven, A. (2022). What works to reduce sedentary behavior in the office, and could these intervention components transfer to the home working environment?: A rapid review and transferability appraisal. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 4, Article 954639.
- Ojo, S. O., Bailey, D. P., Chater, A. M., & Hewson, D. J. (2018). The Impact of Active Workstations on Workplace Productivity and Performance: A Systematic Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(3), Article 417.
- Park, J. H., Moon, J. H., Kim, H. J., Kong, M. H., & Oh, Y. H. (2020). Sedentary Lifestyle: Overview of Updated Evidence of Potential Health Risks. Korean Journal of Family Medicine, 41(6), 365-373.
- Shrestha, N., Kukkonen-Harjula, K. T., Verbeek, J. H., Ijaz, S., Hermans, V., & Pedisic, Z. (2018). Workplace interventions for reducing sitting at work. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews(6), Article Cd010912.
- Zhu, X. M., Yoshikawa, A., Qiu, L. Y., Lu, Z. P., Lee, C., & Ory, M. (2020). Healthy workplaces, active employees: A systematic literature review on impacts of workplace environments on employees' physical activity and sedentary behavior. Building and Environment, 168, Article 106455.