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Emotion and the instrumental workspace
Published in Edward Finch, Guillermo Aranda-Mena, Creating Emotionally Intelligent Workspaces, 2019
Edward Finch, Guillermo Aranda-Mena
Many organisations are investing in the sit–stand desk (SSD) in order to address health concerns about people in the office spending too much time in a fixed seated position. During the working day a typical European will spend 9½ hours sat down. Sedentary behaviour can lead to obesity, cardiovascular diseases and Type 2 diabetes, which together represent the leading causes of death and healthcare costs in Western societies (Wilmot et al. 2012). We might think that spending 30 minutes at the gym after work will compensate for our static existence in the office. Think again – research has shown that this approach may not overcome the unhealthy effects that arise from a sedentary lifestyle (Hamilton et al. 2008). Even those that consider themselves fit (e.g. those that cycle to work) may be subject to the risks associated with sitting for long periods.
Human Diversity
Published in Stephen Pheasant, Christine M. Haslegrave, Bodyspace, 2018
Stephen Pheasant, Christine M. Haslegrave
Despite the close links between social class and occupation, occupation can have direct and separate influences on the anthropometric characteristics of a user population in a particular occupation or industry. In some circumstances ‘self-selection’ may occur, with individuals gravitating towards occupations to which their physiques are well suited. The physical content of the occupation itself may also exert a training effect (sometimes referred to as task fitness) — or, perhaps more detrimentally, a de-training effect in the case of sedentary lifestyles. The most extreme examples of training effects are provided by athletes, as discussed by Wilmore (1976). The consequences of sedentary occupations are discussed elsewhere in this book, but the more general consequences of a sedentary lifestyle are a serious current concern in relation to the health of our populations (especially in terms of the increase in obesity). Finally, the physical aspects of work may have detrimental effects on health and functional capacity. Era et al. (1992), for example, found that elderly people who had had a higher occupational status at working age had better physical, sensory, psychomotor and cognitive functions. Savinainen et al. (2004) found similar results when comparing older people who had had a high physical workload during their working life with those who had had a low workload. The only physical capacities that they found to be better in the high workload group were flexibility of the spine and isometric trunk muscle strength.
Activities for Supporting Work Ability of Ageing Workers
Published in Joanna Bugajska, Teresa Makowiec-Dąbrowska, Tomasz Kostka, Individual and Occupational Determinants, 2020
The levels of physical activity (PA) diminish with age in terms of both volume and intensity. This process is due to changes in lifestyle after the end of professional activity, the growing number of concomitant diseases, lack of motivation, and the insufficient knowledge and awareness about the importance of living an active lifestyle. Meanwhile, the so-called sedentary lifestyle has a negative impact on the majority of systems and functions of the body, and is an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases. The changes resulting from a sedentary lifestyle overlap with the effects of ageing, often aggravating them. Therefore, promoting active lifestyles in older people should be one of the priorities of care in advanced age.
Prevalence, pattern and correlates of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among school teachers in Enugu, Nigeria
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2021
Chidiebele Petronilla Ojukwu, Godson Emeka Anyanwu, Benjamin Eze, Sylvester Caesar Chukwu, Chioma Linda Onuchukwu, Emelie Morris Anekwu
It was observed that more than half of the teachers reported participation in physical activities. This was reasonably impressive considering that their jobs were usually time-consuming and offer minimum time for leisure activities. It is common practice for Nigerian schools to organize physical and health programmes for students, at least once a week, under the supervision of class teachers. Perhaps this practice offered teachers inevitable opportunities for engagement in leisure-time physical activities during working hours. However, information on the physical activity practices of the teachers in this study was insufficient as it failed to specify the patterns and intensities of the physical exercise. The results also revealed that majority of the teachers were overweight and obese. This may be attributed to the dominance of female teachers in the present study as the female gender has been previously associated with high prevalence of obesity [35]. Additionally, teaching is sometimes perceived as a sedentary occupation because it involves prolonged static postures (sitting and standing), requiring long working hours [36]. A sedentary lifestyle has been associated with obesity. Drago et al. [37] reported that, on average, teachers spend longer hours at work than required by their contractual terms, and these additional working hours have been implicated as associated factors restricting the probability of the individual engaging in physical activity [37,38].
Gaming Insight: Conversion of Popular Sedentary Games into Motion-Based Form
Published in International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 2020
Mohsinul Kabir, Quazi Fahim Faisal Dhruba, Hasan Mahmud, Md. Kamrul Hasan, Ahsan Rejwan Zaman
Sedentary lifestyle often leads to obesity, overweight, and a severe risk of diabetes (Hu, 2003). In the United States of America alone, adult obesity rates have exceeded 35% in seven states according to the most recent behavioral risk factor surveillance system (BRFSS) data. According to Organization (2014), obesity and overweight have become a global epidemic with over 1.9 billion adults affected by it. Sedentary lifestyle can also lead to depression and low self-esteem (Hoare, Milton, Foster, & Allender, 2016). Though the suggested amount of daily physical exercise by the experts is only about 30 minutes, people are reluctant to perform this amount of exercise on a regular basis (of the Surgeon General et al., 1996). Motion-based gaming can help retaining people’s attention toward physical exercise. Incorporating physical exercise in screen activities such as video gaming has helped preventing obesity (Baranowski et al., 2003). Graham, Perron, Feldman, and Hall (2011) showed in their research that motion-based games can provide physical activity levels similar to that of unstructured activity. Motion-based gaming can also provide cognitive benefits. Gao and Mandryk (2012) address playing a motion-based game multiple times a day in short bursts improves the affective states of the player, which produces similar exertion levels as treadmill exercise, but is perceived as more fun.
Changes in the school and non-school sedentary time in youth: The UP&DOWN longitudinal study
Published in Journal of Sports Sciences, 2020
Alberto Grao-Cruces, David Sánchez-Oliva, Carmen Padilla-Moledo, Rocío Izquierdo-Gómez, Verónica Cabanas-Sánchez, Jose Castro-Piñero
Sedentary time (ST) is defined as the time in any waking behaviour characterized by an energy expenditure ≤1.5 metabolic equivalents (METs), while in a sitting, reclining or lying posture (Tremblay et al., 2017). Sedentary lifestyle in children and adolescents is recognized as a critical risk factor for suffering chronic diseases later in life (Carson et al., 2016), and is linked to other health-related risk behaviours, such as substance abuse or unhealthy dietary patterns (Grao-Cruces, Nuviala, Fernández-Martínez, & Martínez-López, 2015; Tremblay et al., 2016). Although most studies linking sedentary behaviour with unhealthy outcomes analysed screen time and accelerometer-measured ST is an indicator of stationary behaviour that has not been consistently associated with diseases (Cabanas-Sánchez et al., 2019; Carson et al., 2016), public health guidelines recommend that children and adolescents limit their ST (Tremblay et al., 2016). Children and adolescents spend a large amount of their waking time in sedentary behaviours (Verloigne et al., 2016). Studies with accelerometry found that children spent on average 5–8 daily hours (40-60% of the registered time) being sedentary (Colley et al., 2013; Konstabel et al., 2014; Ortega et al., 2013), and adolescents dedicate an average 8–9 hours/day (around 70% of the registered time) to sedentary behaviours (Colley et al., 2013; Ortega et al., 2013; Ruiz et al., 2011).