Why sitting is the new smoking?

According to a 2006 study by The University of Vanderbilt an average person on an average day is sitting for up to 12 hours of it.  Add to that the fact that up to 3.2 million deaths a year are related to physical inactivity and you have got yourself a scary seating scenario.

There are many misconceptions surrounding sitting and our health. The very idea of ‘resting’, of ‘taking the weight off our feet’ and ‘enjoying a nice sit down’, goes against the train of thought that sitting can be harmful to our health. Of course, there are merits to sitting down and ‘resting’ but there are also plenty of pitfalls to it too.

Our Fit for Industry programs talk about the effects of a sedentary lifestyle on an individual’s health both in their personal life and their professional one. We know office jobs require a lot of sitting, and we know we can’t radically change that, but we can provide ways in which improvements can be made. 

Small changes which include low Intensity movements, adopting the correct posture and switching from sitting to standing every half an hour for just a few moments can be easily incorporated to go some way in counteracting the negative impact of sitting.