Be more active at workReducing our inactivity at workBe more healthy

Dr Morag ThowMs Sarah MitchellMs Margaret Brownlee

Focus for today?

1. Sitting and our posture

2. Reducing our sitting time

3. Walking and exercising at work more

• Computers

• TV

• Cars

• More mechanization

Sitting has increased in all our lives!

Talk to partner beside you

1. How much do you sit at work?

2. When you go home do you sit a lot?

Our sitting time?

Poor sitting posture!

Very bad effects of sitting!

Improve your sitting station

Improve your sitting posture• Gravity is working

on us all the time.• Think tall:

imagine a string on top of your head, pulling you up.

• Do seated exercises.

Do seated exercises, if you can’t stand

• Neck rotation• Shoulder

shrug• Wrist rolling• Open and

close fingers• Resisted bicep

curls• Toe raises

• Forward bend• Rotate spine• Side stretch• Knee to chest• Knee lifts, foot

back• Sunshine!

We can now sit in a better posture

BUT …

… sitting for long periods is bad, and seats are EVIL.

EVIL!!

Prolonged sitting is bad. Seats are EVIL !

What has happened over time

• Increases in inactivity

• Decrease in activity

Why is sitting so bad?

• Each 1-hour increment in sitting time was found to be associated with an 11% and an 18% increased risk of all-cause and Cardiovascular Disease mortality, respectively (Dunstan et al Circulation 2010).

• Less time sitting prolongs life (Hidde et al Arch Intern Med. 2012).

This is what happens when we sit for periods>1 hour• Electrical signals to

legs shut down.• Calorie burning

reduces 1% per minute.

• Good protective cholesterol drops 20%.

• Blood sugar starts to rise.

• Insulin effectiveness reduces.

Avoiding sedentarism/sitting

• Don’t sit for long periods of time.

• Break up your sitting as much as you can.

• Introduce inconvenience into your daily life!

• What can you do to break up periods of sitting and introduce inconvenience?

How can we stop sitting so much?• With partner: how can you

Introduce inconvenience into your daily life?

• Here’s one idea: put a yellow sticky on your computer saying ‘Get up every hour!’

Get up every hour!!

Some solutions!

• Stand for a time to work.

• Have meetings standing.

• If you chair a meeting, get group to stand every hour.

More solutions!• Install a screen

saver to stop working every hour.

• Walk to water station and printer.

• Stand up to talk on the phone.

STAND UP NOW!

• Standing is better than sitting!

More walking and exercising at work

Physical Activity Recommendations

• So what type of, and how much, activity should we all be doing to benefit our health?

Aerobic Exercise

• What is aerobic exercise?

• What does it do for our health & well-being?

Aerobic Exercise & Fitness

• Activities which increase your heart and breathing rates.

AND• Which you can do

continuously for a fairly long time.

Decreases your risk of :• Early mortality• Heart disease, stroke,

diabetesAlso improves:• Weight management• Functional

independence

Guidelines: Aerobic Fitness

• Moderate intensity activity for 30 minutes on at least 5 days per week (150 mins per week MINIMUM)

OR/and • Vigorous intensity activity for 20

minutes on 3 days per week

•30 mins can be done in 3 × 10-minute bouts!

BORG Scale: How it should feel7 VERY VERY LIGHT A DODDLE

8

9 VERY LIGHT A SKOOSH

10

11 FAIRLY LIGHT NAE BOTHER

12

13 SOMEWHAT HARD PECHIN

14

15HARD WABBIT

16

17 VERY HARD PUGGLED

18

19 VERY VERY HARD KNACKERED

20

Overload

Try to build in 30 mins walking • 3 × 10 minutes × 5

days = minimum recommendations for health

• Only 150 mins per week!

• Needs to be at 100-130 beats per min!

• (‘Staying alive’, Bee Gees = 104 BPM)

Perhaps you might donate a small sum to the Hospice?Website : www.svh.co.ukSt Vincent's HospiceMidton Road, Howwood, Renfrewshire PA9 1AFTel: 01505 705635

Have you found this useful!!