Poor Mental Health at Work!
“Britain’s couch potato lifestyle contributes to as many deaths as smoking and threatens to bankrupt public services.”
Don’t you just love it when statements like this come out and make us all feel better!
But, Public Health England (who’s behind the statement), has a serious message. Sitting still for hours at a time is really, really bad for us and – this is the annoying thing – you can’t go and spend an hour at the gym to reverse the effects. Boo.
“What may be most shocking is that irrespective of your level of physical activity, prolonged sedentary working leads to a significant increase in the risk of: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, certain cancers, depression and muscle and joint problems.”
Professor John Buckley
For those of us who work in an office it’s bad news. Especially as we wouldn’t call ourselves couch potatoes – it’s not about being lazy, it’s about, well, getting the job done. Fortunately there’s a national campaign to raise awareness of this issue and get office workers moving.
On 24th April the British Heart Foundation teamed up with the Get Britain Standing Campaign to run an event called ‘On your feet Britain.’ Workers across the UK were challenged to take the challenge and find ways they could move more during the working day.
Their slogan: “Wiggle it, waggle it, work it, twerk it. Just don’t sit on it!” is right up our street here at Gotcha. So, taking the best of their suggestions, here are our favourite ideas for getting yourself out of your chair at work:
- Try a sit-stand desk. You can alternate between sitting and standing and adjust the height of your workstation to suit.
- Have meetings standing up – this will probably make them shorter. (We love this one!)
- Take phone calls standing up. This also improves confidence and voice quality.
- Walk to a colleague’s desk instead of emailing.
We’re going to try to incorporate some of these into our normal days – ‘cause y’know, work’s important, but your health comes first!
For more details of the campaign, visit the Get Britain Standing website.
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