The Dangers of Sitting at your Desk

What is the worst thing that can happen if you just do your job? I guess that depends on the kind of job you have. If you are a firefighter, you can get burned, blown-up, hit by a car, or catch a disease from a patient. If you are soldier, you can get into all sorts of trouble during war time. If you are a cop, you can get shot. What about if you work behind a desk?

Transformation Through Qigong (TTQ) is the program I developed to help people move more, more safely. In the United States alone, the number of people who spend more than four hours a day sitting at a desk (even if they are sitting "correctly") is staggering. And the harm this sedentary lifestyle causes those workers is well documented. The worst part is that many of those people already have pre-existing conditions that make their circumstances even more dire. Getting people out of their desk chair and moving while at work (even while working) is key to keeping people awake, focused, motivated, healthy, at work and alive.

Desk workers spend too much time sitting behind their desks (Biswas A, et. al.). In order to minimize that danger, it is necessary to move intentionally and more often throughout the day. “Physical activity is anything that gets your body moving. According to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition, adults need to do two types of physical activity each week to improve their health–aerobic activity and muscle strengthening. (www.cdc.gov)” People who spend more than four hours a day doing desk or computer works (Buckley JP, Hedge A, Yates T, et al)

Transformation Through Qigong (TTQ) offers techniques/solutions for desk workers. Many jobs require people to spend unhealthy amounts of time sitting at a desk. TTQ will: Educate desk workers about the consequences of sitting at the desks too much, and Encourage and motivate desk workers to get up and move on a regular basis.

People who spend long periods of time (more than half an hour at a time) staring at a screen need to be informed about the dangers of eye fatigue (hopkinsmedicine.org). TTQ will teach the 20-20-20 rule: The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, shift the eyes to look at an object at least 20 feet away, for at least 20 seconds.

TTQ will teach desk workers about the benefits of standing at their desk (Creasy SA, et. al.), and how employers might enable them to do so: Stand at desk as much as possible: phone calls, reading, watching media, et. c. Prepare work space to be conducive to standing (i.e. Figure 1).

Figure 1 (standing desk accessory: monitors not included)

TTQ will teach desk workers exercises that can help reduce the dangerous effects of desk work:
-Bouncing every 30 minutes for about one minute
-Shaking every 30 minutes for at least one minute
-Counter-swings every 30 minutes for at least one minute
-Band heating every 30 minutes for at least one minute
-Standing meditation every 30 minutes for at least one minute,
-and for even greater health benefits, walk more (Smith-McLallen, et. al.).

TTQ is a set of exercises that promote mobility, circulation, strength and balance. Regular exercises scattered throughout the day is more effective then clumping it together, for example, going to the gym (van der Ploeg HP, et. al.). “Prolonged sitting is a risk factor for all-cause mortality, independent of physical activity. Public health programs should focus on reducing sitting time in addition to increasing physical activity levels (ibid.)”

TTQ techniques can be done in sequence or spread out throughout the day. The Level I program is 30 minutes long and broken into six chunks. TTQ Level I focuses primarily on the psychomotor aspect of the program. If applied to a typical 8 hour work day, learners can fit the exercises into six, 5 minute sessions, spread equitably throughout the day (i.e. for an 8-5 job: 9am, 10am, 11am, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm). Over the course of a week, this would provide the CDC’s minimum recommended daily exercises time (op. cit.).

References:

Sedentary time and its association with risk for disease incidence, mortality, and hospitalization in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Biswas A, Oh PI, Faulkner GE, Bajaj RR, Silver MA, Mitchell MS, Alter DA. Ann Intern Med. 2015 Jan 20;162(2):123-32. doi: 10.7326/M14-1651. PMID: 25599350

www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fphysicalactivity%2Feveryone%2Fguidelines%2Fadults.html

Buckley JP, Hedge A, Yates T, et al: The sedentary office: an expert statement on the growing case for change towards better health and productivity, British Journal of Sports Medicine 2015;49:1357-1362.

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/protect-your-eyes-from-screen-time

Creasy SA, Rogers RJ, Byard TD, Kowalsky RJ, Jakicic JM. Energy Expenditure During Acute Periods of Sitting, Standing, and Walking. J Phys Act Health. 2016 Jun;13(6):573-8. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2015-0419. Epub 2015 Dec 21. PMID: 26693809.

Smith-McLallen, Aaron & Heller, Debbie & Vernisi, Kristin & Gulick, Diana & Cruz, Samantha & Snyder, Richard. (2016). Comparative Effectiveness of Two Walking Interventions on Participation, Step Counts, and Health. American Journal of Health Promotion. 31. 10.1177/0890117116658012.

van der Ploeg HP, Chey T, Korda RJ, Banks E, Bauman A. Sitting time and all-cause mortality risk in 222 497 Australian adults. Arch Intern Med. 2012 Mar 26;172(6):494-500. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.2174. PMID: 22450936.