Office workers should get out of their swivel chairs and stand and move for at least two hours during their work day, an expert panel says.
The recommendation comes as more and more research shows too excessive periods of sitting increases the risk of serious illness and even premature death.
The guidance from a panel of international health experts, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, suggests increased use of what are known as sit-stand desks, along with including standing-based tasks in the workday and the occasional walkabout.
"For those working in offices, 65 to 75 percent of their working hours are spent sitting," says John Buckley of Britain's Institute of Medicine.
"More than 50 percent of this is accumulated in prolonged periods of sustained sitting," he notes. "A first behavioral step could be simply to get people standing and moving more frequently as part of their working day."
The experts note they're not talking about the usual exhortation to exercise more, as some recent studies have shown people who exercise regularly may not be getting much benefit from it if they spend the rest of their day rooted to a chair in front of a desk.
That two hours a day doesn't have to be all at once, they emphasize — even short breaks for standing, pacing back and forth or taking a short walk are preferable to long stints in the chair.
Even a break to go to the bathroom can count — as can anything that separates the backside from the chair bottom, such as holding walking meetings rather than heading to the conference room and yet another chair.
Most office workers spend many periods of being completely sedentary that can last for 30 minutes or more, researchers have found.
For the average office worker, that works out at around three straight hours of sitting more or less motionless in their chair.
Such prolonged periods of sitting have been linked to serious health issues that include obesity, diabetes and heart disease, experts say.
The problem is becoming more acute as work environments change. In 1970, only two out of every 10 American workers held desk jobs; 2003 found nearly six in every 10 at a desk, many of them in front of computers.
While some companies are leading the way in designing their office environments to encourage a more active working style, much more needs to be done, the researchers suggest.
