Stand Or Sit, You Don't Get To Decide

Given the importance of the office furniture industry in West Michigan, this seems important. Even if you don't care about Steelcase, Herman Miller or Haworth, haven't you been sitting long enough today?
                                             

New Survey: To Sit or Stand? Almost 70% of Full Time American Workers Hate Sitting, but They do it all Day Every Day

Simple Changes Can Make a Big Difference in Health and Productivity

ST. PAUL, Minn., July 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Most Americans have to sit all day at work and they despise it.  A new survey commissioned by Ergotron, a global manufacturer of digital display mounting, furniture, and mobility products including sit-stand desks, found that nearly 70 percent of full time American workers hate sitting, yet 86 percent do it all day, every day. When they do get up, more than half (56 percent) use getting food as an excuse.

On top of all of that sitting at work, and for meals and commuting, the respondents:

• Sit another 1-2 hours while watching TV (36 percent)
• Game another 1-2 hours (10 percent)
• Lounge for 1-2 hours for things such as reading (25 percent)
• Use their home computer for 1-2 hours (29 percent)

In total, Americans are sitting an average of 13 hours a day and sleeping an average of 8 hours resulting in a sedentary lifestyle of around 21 hours a day. While Americans know about the importance of exercise, only 31 percent go to the gym, and 56 percent devote less than $10 per month to staying active. However, 96 percent would be willing to stand more to improve their health or life expectancy, and 30 percent even responded that they would rather go without coffee for a week to stand.

The survey also found that the vast majority (93 percent) didn't know what "Sitting Disease" is, but 74 percent believe that sitting too much could lead to an early death. The term "Sitting Disease" has been coined by the scientific community and is commonly used when referring to metabolic syndrome and the ill-effects of an overly sedentary lifestyle. Just last month, the American Medical Association adopted a policy recognizing potential risks of prolonged sitting and encouraging employers, employees and others to make available alternatives to sitting.

"Research is showing links between sedentary lifestyles and diabetes, several types of cancer, obesity and cardiovascular disease," said Jane Payfer, an Ergotron spokesperson. "There is a significant opportunity for people to change their behavior in the workplace and for corporations to change their cultures. Standing increases energy, burns extra calories, tones muscles, improves posture, increases blood flow, reduces blood sugar levels and ramps up metabolism. Frequently overlooked, standing more is the simplest, easiest change someone can make."   

This is Ergotron's second survey in three years on the effects of sitting for office workers.  The 2010 survey can be found here.   

Resources:

• An Infographic illustrating the survey findings can be viewed at JustStand.org.
• 8 ways to stand more every day.
• Ergotron's  JustStand™ Index – Revisited annually, the Index will show the growth of awareness around the problems of sitting  and will quantify the following questions:

1. Do you know what sitting disease is?
2. Are you aware of sit/stand computing products?
3. Have you requested sit/stand products at work?

For more detail and analysis of the survey findings, the JustStand® Report by Ergotron is available athttp://www.juststand.org/portals/3/literature/SurveyIndexReport.pdf. The Survey and Index results are being presented at the 3^rd Annual JustStand Wellness Summit today, via live stream atJuststand.org/summit.

Did you know Steelcase was born out of the need to stop office fires? Too many men were flicking too many hot cigar ashes in the wooden waste baskets at their desks. Metal Office Furniture came to the rescue, and later would become Steelcase.

That is one of the stories told in Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community, the story of how the people of Grand Rapids are changing the way the world sees their community.

Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community is available wherever books are sold online including Abbott Press, and also on the shelves of Barnes & Noble-Woodland Mall, Schuler Books & Music-28th Street and West Coast Coffee on Monroe Center.

Autographed copies are available by clicking the Add To Cart button on the Welcome Page of www.rodkackley.com