'Sitting Disease': How Sendetary Jobs Ruin Your Health, And What You Can Do About It

Desk jobs and other sedentary professions now make up the majority of jobs in developed nations. Sedentary jobs were already on the rise back in 1960, when around half of the workforce had physically active jobs, and have risen 83 percent since 1950 in the US. Shockingly, approximately 86 percent of all US jobs now involve sitting down most of the working day!

Add the daily commute, time spent behind screens at home, and other sedentary activities to the day, and you get a rather frightening picture. Your average Joe or Joanne spends more than half of their waking day sitting on their butts, a meta-analysis of 47 studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2015 reveals.

What is all that sitting doing to our health? When you hear that the average American eats 500 more calories a day than they would have 30 years ago, you begin to understand — more sitting and more eating equals a bigger obesity problem. Your risk of overweight isn't the only thing you have to worry about if you are working a desk job, however. Unfortunately, research reveals that extended periods of sitting are bad for you even if you get in plenty of exercise when you aren't in that chair.

'Sitting Disease': How Your Sedentary Job Is Making You Ill

"Sitting disease", as it has been dubbed, has far-reaching consequences. Your overall risk of facing any of the health problems associated with sitting for extended periods of time will depend on numerous factors, including how long you sit, whether you exercise and if so how much, and on your diet. However, even "just" spending four hours a day in front of a TV or other screen (a pretty routine occurrence in today's world) has detrimental effects.

READ Elderly Who Exercise Regularly Have Better Heart than Healthy Young Sedentary People

If you do a full-time sedentary job, research reveals, you may have to face the fact that you could be at risk for:

• Cardiovascular disease, including angina and suffering a heart attack
• Becoming overweight and obese
• Type 2 diabetes
• Cancer
• Dementia
• Osteoporosis and hip fractures
• Back pain
• Fatigue

Your all-cause mortality also goes up, by as much as 125 percent in those who spend a total of four hours or more in front of screens — and if you're doing a full-time desk job, you're almost guaranteed to be doing that for a much longer period of time.

Unfortunately, changing your job might not be an option, and then again, it's quite possible you actually do love your job. The question becomes what we can do to escape the risk of a sedentary lifestyle. The next page, I promise, will offer you a whole lot more optimism!

Avoid 'Sitting Disease' Even If You Have A Desk Job

So, you work a job that's currently sedentary in nature and would like very much to avoid the numerous detrimental health effects "sitting disease" could cause? How you can best manage this depends on the nature of your job at least in part, so we'll look at different possibilities for different people as well as things everyone can do.

If You Work From Home...

You're in luck! People who work from home generally have the greatest amount of flexibility in managing their working hours. I know there are pitfalls too, however — unless you actively try, your physical activity level may dip below that of people who work out of the home.

If all the chores are done, I do some stretching exercises or practice capoeira with my kids. If my working day is interrupted, because of a phone call for instance, I stand up to handle the interruption. I also got an automatic Shiatsu massager that I can use while working, to keep the back pain in check.

Other genius things you could try include obtaining a standing desk, sitting on a yoga ball (which though it doesn't eliminate sitting is still better for your posture), and seeing how you can incorporate physical activity into your job itself. A friend, who teaches English as a second language from home, decided to switch to a hands-on approach in which her students and she take walks outside, both to facilitate learning and to encourage physical activity.

READ Keeping Fit When You Work At Home (And Hate Exercise)

If You're A Small Business Owner Or Manager...

You may be in a position to transform not just your own health, but that of your employees as well. If your team is small enough, you can do such things as:

• Introduce standing desks to the whole office, of course excepting those who cannot stand up for disability reasons. Some are adjustable, meaning they can both serve for sitting and standing.
• Holding meetings and brain-storming sessions while standing up.
• Walking around the office while discussing something with an employee.
• Holding short workout sessions in the office, perhaps twice daily.
• Ensuring you and your coworkers each get the opportunity to engage in tasks that require some movement throughout the day, such as running to the supply cabinet, walking to the printer to get documents, or getting coffee for everyone.

If You're An Employee...

You can take the initiative to discuss the negative health impact of a sedentary lifestyle with your superiors, and advocate for such things as standing desks and walking meetings. You can perhaps volunteer to engage in tasks that require physical movement, even if they amount to nothing more than telling your boss something in person rather than sending them an email. If you are a teacher, a lawyer, or are in some other non-desk sedentary job, you may have greater freedom to just get up and walk around while working.

READ Reducing Stroke Severity With Regular Exercise

What Everyone Can Do

Have you been sitting down at work all day? You may be mentally exhausted, but your body still needs movement. Consider getting a treadmill, which you can even use while watching TV or answering emails (if you set it up right).

Also, consider how you can add movement to your non-working day, not just by exercising at least three times a week but also by doing stretching exercises every single day, making a habit of discussing important things with your partner over a walk outside rather than sitting on the couch, and meeting your friends for jogs rather than lunches. Commit to exercising with your family so that bonding time can take place while you are working out.

You should also consider whether your caloric intake matches your level of physical activity, and cut down if you are overdoing it.