The daily grind of making a living may end up padding more than our wallets. Score one for not working at a desk.
A new study out of Montreal, Canada, has found that office workers have become less active over the past three decades. This decreased activity may partly explain the rise in obesity that has gripped North America for decades. Their findings, published online in the journal “Preventive Medicine,” may have health implications for the millions of people seated on desk chairs all day peering at computer screens or handling the telephone.
Overall, people are certainly eating better (at least more consciously) and exercising more these days than in the 1970s. But unfortunately that doesn’t spell positive news for our collective weight. Obesity rates continue to rise despite a greater focus on health. The theory that went into this new study was that people’s professional lives may be playing a factor in their weight.
Researchers scanned several Statistics Canada databases on the health of Canadians that included 17,000 to 132,000 respondents. They concluded that the lack of physical activity during office hours could explain the fact that obesity has increased 10% between 1978 and 2004.
In a surprise, they found an increase in healthy attitudes toward transportation. Urban sprawl and larger and larger suburban areas might lead to a greater dependence on the automobile. But the study found that men and women increasingly adopted healthy behaviors such as walking and biking.
They believe that quick bursts of activity may be a solution to helping this issue. A good idea in combating inactivity during work is to integrate sport, work and transportation. For example, it may be more effective to exercise in smaller doses throughout the day rather than concentrate the effort. Taking a walk at break time or taking the stairs rather than elevator could have great benefits.
The research team also said that the promotion and marketing of exercise can be changed for the better. We must move away from individual exercise to group ideas. Workplaces should take it upon themselves to develop a system of rewarding or highlighting the importance of physical activity and physical education.
For now, if you work at an office, be sure to get up and move around many times a day. Don’t forget about exercise even if you’re at a desk.
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