For a longer time I’ve been worried about the risks of sedentary work due to the nature of my job in IT. A study published in June 2015 by Buckley et al. (2015) in the British Journal of Sports Medicine confirmed those fears.
Sitting for prolonged periods of time, like many desk workers do, increases the chance of developing cardiovascular diseases and diabetes significantly. Even if you do perform enough moderate to intensive physical activity outside of working hours, such as sports, you don’t prevent the damage incurred by continuous sitting for long periods during working hours.
I was already slightly aware of this. That’s why I always take a walk outside (while eating at the same time) for 30 minutes during the afternoon break at my current job. I do so with a small dedicated group of colleagues, but the majority of the other colleagues just seat themselves at the restaurant inside the office building for the whole break. Apart from that break, I do notice that I often sit non-stop for two or three hours at my desk while I work. I urgently want to change this now that I’ve realized the gravity of the problem after reading the study. The guidelines given by the study are that you stand or move for at least two hours, preferably four, in the office.
One solution mentioned in the study is using a sit-stand desk. Problem is that my employer has no desire to reserve budget to purchase these. It would also be considered strange if one person is standing in the office while the rest is sitting. I should probably just take a regular break every hour and walk the stairs to the third floor back to the first. But a sit-stand desk would allow me to avoid sitting without having to interrupt my work. I will press my wish for a sit-stand desk more when I might get to work for a different employer.