Long-term sitting 'bad for office health'

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 13-01-2012

Office staff spend around five hours and 41 minutes sitting at their desks each day, research has shown.

This is almost as long as a typical nightly sleep and researchers also revealed that those who sit for long periods at work are more likely to spend the most time sitting at home.

Occupational psychologists Professor Cheryl Haslam from Loughborough University and Dr Myanna Duncan explained that sitting down for long periods at a desk can be bad for people’s mental wellbeing and their physical health.

"People don’t need a psychologist to tell them to get up and walk around. But if it helps, I’d tell them to put a post-it note on their computer to remind them.

"Anyway, go and talk to your colleagues face to face, it’s a lot more sociable and better for you than emailing them."

Their findings are being presented to the British Psychological Society’s annual occupational psychology conference in Chester.

Copyright Press Association 2012