Move more, sit less at work: let’s not sit to talk about it
By Stuart Biddle, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
I’m writing this blog on Valentine’s Day! The health promotion charity in Australia, Bluearth, has produced some amusing videos encouraging you to use your chair less by ‘breaking up with your chair’ (liking splitting from your partner, see videos here). So what is the issue here? Essentially, with changes in the way many of us work, we sit too much and this has been shown to be bad for our health. For example, many people will drive to work, sit at a desk most of the day, drive home, and sit in front of the TV or computer for much of the evening. The workplace, therefore, is ripe for health behaviour change. But with such a habitual behaviour like sitting, strong social norms, as well as environmental designs that encourage less movement alongside comfortable and rewarding sitting, how can we change anything?
