Media Centre
We're sitting ducks at work
11 August 2009
Herald Sun
A STUDY has found we're spending 70 per cent of our day sitting down - and it's making us fat and raising our risk of diabetes and heart disease.
A staggering 77 per cent of the time we spend at work involves sitting and the other 23 per cent is low-intensity exercise, such as strolling to the photocopier or coffee shop.
Worse still is the news that we aren't doing as much moderate exercise as we think we are.
Two-thirds of those in the study sponsored by Medibank Private said they did 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise such as a brisk walk or other activity that raised a slight sweat.
But the study, using a small device called an accelerometer, found just a third of participants actually did the 30 minutes a day of exercise required.
Researchers now want employers to consider prolonged sitting to be a health and safety issue.
Associate Prof David Dunstan from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Prahran said prolonged sitting may be a contributor to poor health.
"Sitting at an office desk is only marginally above lying down in bed," he said.