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Is Sitting The New Smoking?

A study released by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine suggests that, because you’re human, you lose 11% to 14% of your productivity-potential every day. You check the news. You chitchat with a colleague in the next cubicle. You daydream about dinner, who is going to be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight, or your upcoming weekend road-trip. We’re all human. We’re not machines. And there’s not much we do to change it.

Here’s something you can change. Research also suggests that for every health risk you possess, you lose an additional percentage of your productivity-potential (small health risks obviously impact productivity less than serious health concerns). Some studies suggest that the average person has between 10 to 12 health risks every single day. Do the math. Even if a minor risk reduced your potential by 3%, but you possess 10 small risks, you could be operating at about half of your potential.

Curious about how these seemingly small physical changes could impact performance at work, we started digging for more research. And, we found it—a ton of it, packaged neatly into one book.

“Losing four hours of sleep is comparable to drinking a six-pack of beer ,” says Tom Rath, Author of the New York Times bestselling book, Eat Move Sleep. “I don’t want to be in a serious meeting with a person who drank six beers or lost four hours of sleep. I don’t want my child’s teacher to be that person. I don’t want my doctor to be that person. Still, we don’t view the two scenarios (beer drinking and not sleeping) as equal. In fact, our culture views a person who needs sleep, as a person with a weakness. In fact, in the business world, many professionals take pride in burning the midnight oil.”

Rath, most known for his thought-leadership in the business space—the author of Strengths Finder 2.0, How Full is Your Bucket, and the more recent bestseller Strengths Based Leadership—has both personal and professional reasons for shifting his attention toward health and wellness. “I’ve battled health issues of my own,” he recently told us during a podcast interview. “But when I started doing research for personal reasons, I realized the impact small changes could make in elevating performance as well.”

In Eat Move Sleep, Rath cites a study from Harvard Medical School, which suggests ‘lack of sleep’ costs the American economy $63 billion in lost productivity. And it’s not because employees aren’t showing up for work—we’re not talking about absenteeism. A concept called presenteeismis apparently slaying our ability to perform. Basically, the word means being sick in some way, but showing up to work anyway. We’ve all had those days where we’re not performing at our best—too little sleep, a headache, or the common cold. We’re present; we’re just not in the game.

“Not reaching your potential is not just about having an illness,” said Rath. “It’s about not being fully healthy. Our culture has spent a lot of time talking about how not to be sick—don’t smoke, and don’t eat junk food. We also talk a lot about how healthy habits prevent disease. But most people don’t talk about how healthy habits improve you—your energy, your focus, your mood, and your performance.”

Surprising your colleagues at work with a box of glazed donuts might seem like a great idea to motivate people to work harder. But, when the sugar-rush dies, so will their energy. And, according to Rath, it’s not just the donuts, or sodas, or candy bars that have an impact. “Every ounce of food or liquid you consume has either a net positive or a net negative effect by the time it runs through your body,” said Rath. “You don’t get healthier by simply trying to eat better in general. You improve your health on a bite-by-bite basis. One of my favorite meals was hickory-glazed salmon at a local restaurant. I loved it, and assumed it was healthy until I started doing research on barbecue sauce. Basically, it’s almost all sugar—like syrup for meat. But, if you want big change, you’ve got to think about every small bite and the impact the ingredients will have either positively or negatively.”

For anyone who’s experienced the afternoon coma that follows lunch, you understand exactly what bite-by-bite means—that the food you eat today, affects your performance today.

Still, when it comes to the impact our health choices make on our abilities to accomplish great work, one specific comment made by Tom Rath shocked us—because it challenges a common workplace habit that has been baked into most workplace cultures. Rath said, “ Sitting is the most underrated health-threat of modern time. Researchers found that sitting more than six hours in a day will greatly increase your risk of an early death.”

That comment might be hard to digest if you spend your day in a chair. And, for those of you who have a ‘butts in chairs equals productivity’ mindset, Rath also mentioned that walking could increase energy levels by 150 percent. “Inactivity is dangerous,” he said, “In fact, some research shows inactivity now kills more people than smoking .”

“Any advice on where a person should start making small changes?” we asked.

“The business world is really good at tracking and accountability,” Rath replied. “At work we’re really good at setting goals and creating systems and processes to reach those goals. Our culture, however, has never been good at tracking and accountability when it comes to health, until now. Technology (like Fitbit and Jawbone devices) now makes it effortless to track activity, and sleep. And when you’re aware of what you’re doing in real-time, it’s easy to see how small choices lead to big changes.”

Rath paused. “Beyond that…” he said, “It is about eating, moving, and sleeping well in combination.”

Standing desk. That's all I got to say.

People who say to sleep for 8 hours a day should wake up 2 hours before they usually do and help be productive :v

I usually sleep from 5-7 hours a day and feel a lot more productive than 7-9 hours.

I've been over weight almost my entire life. I've had spurts of dieting over the course of the last five years. I've lost 55 lbs (2010), 60 lbs (2012), and currently have lost 28 lbs on three different diets. It's relevant to the topic at hand because regular exercise and especially morning exercise can and in most cases WILL increase your energy throughout the course of the day. Another thing that helps me (As I sit at a desk 4 1/2 hrs a day) is I take a complex B vitamin and a 200mg caffeine pill every morning. Plenty of sleep is obviously important too, but proper diet and exercise is a real solid way to keep energy levels up.

Coming soon to a workplace near you.

Is that real or something from The Onion?

link

I have a standing desk that I use to alternate between sitting and standing while I work. I now feel completely inadequate since Instructables user Robb Godshaw posted his impressive hamster-wheel standing desk with a DIY guide for making your own.

You've seen standing desks. You've seen treadmill desks. You've even seen a desk with an exercise bike attached. A hamster wheel catapults the alternative desk movement into a whole new territory, a territory previously reserved for small rodents.

Designing a hamster wheel big enough for a person takes some serious design skills. Godshaw and his associates at Autodesk's Pier 9 fabrication facility ended up creating an 80-inch diameter wheel with a 24-inch-wide base. The wheel moves thanks to four skateboard wheels underneath. A preexisting standing desk was simply fitted inside the wheel.

One notable part missing from the giant hamster wheel is brakes. Brakes were on the table during the design process, but the team decided against it in order to make the desk's user really work for it. You pretty much have to walk when you're in the wheel.

The wheel itself is constructed primarily of plywood, glue, and a ton of wood screws. You can download the files to follow along and make your own. It took Pier 9 about 24 hours to complete the project.

If you do build this hamster desk for your office, then you'll probably want to practice getting into character by stuffing as many break-room doughnuts into your cheeks as possible, squeaking during conference calls, and biting the bars of your cubicle.

Since the standing-desk human hamster wheel has thrown down the gauntlet on rodent-toy-inspired designs for workspaces, I have to wonder when someone will take it to the next level and create a hamster ball with a standing desk inside. Granted, this ups the engineering difficulty considerably, but it would be totally worth it.

Lmao @ ErikInHell



Good pic.

Whoever invented that really needs to get the ball rolling! I want one of those!

Mayor Bloomberg is starting a campaign to have all chairs removed from New York City restaurants.

Oh, it's real. I believe this comes with an optional electrical generator for the really cheap company.

I agree, any more than 6 hrs and I feel groggy all day. But on weekends I enjoy a nice 30 minute nap around 3-4 o'clock, after working in the yard all morning..

i can't take naps during the day.

cause once i lay down....that's it

If you have time during the school year, I would suggest an hour nap after studying. I found that after a 4 hour study session that a nap works wonders for my memory.

I'm glad that I'm usually laying on my couch instead of sitting on it after reading this article.

Do you work from one? If so, how do you like it?

Using a standing desk for at least a portion of the day is something I researched awhile back and had planned on trying, but it's one of those things I haven't gotten around to doing yet. I would probably build some cheap/makeshift type desk first to try it out before buying an adjustable one.

I have one at my home and use it and it works great. I don't know if it actually works, but my back feels terrible after sitting for long periods of time.

I can't sit in my chair at home much without my back hurting. I sit on the floor and lay down on the floor a lot. It's easier to get up and walk around when I do that.

My desk chair at school is more comfortable, but I'm still up and around, plus the stairs.

I don't know if the stairs keep me healthy or if they're going to be the death of me.

I guess it depends on how we would define if it works, but if it makes your back feel better and there's at least a decent chance of it making you otherwise healthier, and there's no noticeable drop-off in productivity, that would certainly qualify for me.

My interest in getting a standing desk started for the health reasons laid out in the OP. There is a growing amount of research to support the idea that prolonged sitting affects much worse health outcomes than we had realized.

I try to exercise a decent amount to counteract this, but there is really only so much you can do in say, an hour of exercising compared to the effects of sitting for most of the rest of the day.

I've also noticed that some of my best, most creative thoughts come when I'm moving around and doing something-- even just walking. Would standing give some of the same benefits? I really don't know but it's something I would like to give a shot sometime. It's also hard to get others' opinions on this as standing desks are so uncommon (I don't know of anybody in real life who uses one, although I can't say I've asked around a whole lot.)

How did they determine this?

Did they use a controlled group of people who were in nearly identical physical shape, and then had one group sit for 6 hrs a day and the other not? While all other activities were identical?

I have a friend who works on his feet all day. He goes home, sits on the sofa and drinks soda and eats junk food, and is probably 60-80 overweight.

I on the other hand go to the gym in the morning, then work in an office all day, mostly sitting, I then go to practice and play drums for 2-3 hours (again sitting ironically). Spend most of my day drinking water after my 1 cup of coffee in the morning. My one vice is an ice cream cone after a home cooked meal. I do admit to only 6 hrs of sleep a night, but that works for me, any more and I am sluggish the following day.

It was a study.

A special study.

A very special study.

Heck I don't know.

qoute by FloridaFan above:

"My one vice is an ice cream cone after a home cooked meal."

My god. Slow down!

At least think of your wife and kids if not yourself and get yourself checked into ICCA. (Ice Cream Conics Anonymous).

Good luck. You know we're pullin' for ya.

Knowing is half the battle. At least that is what I learned growing up.