William Atkins
Tuesday, 11 August 2009 19:01
Science -
Health
Page 2 of 3
The study was conducted by researchers who monitored 131 office, call center, and retail workers.
Basically, the researchers found that
77% of work time is spent doing very sedentary activities with
“very low levels of energy expenditure.”
The Medibank Private article states,
“Sedentary lifestyles are considered to be a major contributor to poor health, linked to Type 2 Diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.”
When the study took into account the time before and after work, each individual still spent
70% of their time before, during, and after work doing sedentary activities.
And, when the researchers took into account the complete day for each individual (work time and personal time), the participants spent
62% of their entire day (except for sleeping) doing very sedentary activities (sitting at a desk, sitting in front of the TV, etc.).
According to Julie Andrews, the executive general manager at Medibank, a major finding in the study was the perception by people that they were doing much more physical activities than they were actually perfoming.
Andrews stated,
“The study used a device called an accelerometer to objectively record the duration and intensity of movement and time, in addition to participant-recorded diaries and questionnaires.”
Ms. Andrews adds more comments on page three.
