Sedentary Jobs Kill
by Cil Burke BSN
If you have a sedentary job, your job is killing you.
Even so, I don’t see many of us walking in tomorrow and saying “I quit!”
Not many people work purely for pleasure and besides, is there any truth to this idea? Does sitting really kill?
I first saw this “sitting kills” suggestion in a nifty Mashable infographic. The facts were laid out as Mashable does, with clever ADD inducing graphs and charts, complete with arrows and large writing that skitter frenetically down the page.
I clicked down the page, as the author suggested, in order to burn more calories (as opposed to using the laziman’s ‘scroll’ button).
Are our jobs really killing us? Can it be true? More internet hyperbole? Killing us? Really?
The facts about our jobs:
- 80% of Americans work at sedentary jobs
- 6.5% of Americans meet US minimum physical guideline requirements at work
- In 2012, 20% of jobs required some physical activity, down from 50% in 1960
- People with sedentary jobs are twice as likely to die from heart disease as those with active jobs
The facts about us:
- Americans burn 140 fewer calories/day than 50 years ago=14.6 pounds/year weight gain.
- 1 in 3 Americans is obese
- Obese people sit 2.5 hours more per day than thin people
We’re more productive at our jobs and at home because we use computers and their electronic cousins.
Here’s the point: There are down sides to this big butt inducing, sedentary, and heart killing productivity.
I like the more efficient part of my life (my laptop, TV remote, garage door opener, etc.). I like it a lot.
What can I do about my sedentary job?
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the professional organization of personal trainers (paid sadists) have guidelines on how much exercise is necessary to counteract our killer sedentary jobs:
Hitting the gym for 3o minutes after sitting 8 hours: not enough. Huh?
To lower mortality rates by 60%, walking is not enough. Sedentariness (maybe it’s not a word, but it is definitely a lifestyle) is detrimental even among those who meet current exercise guidelines.
What do these ACSM experts recommend to offset the effects of your extremely productive day, AKA TV/monitor sitting?
- At work or at home, get up every hour and walk around or stretch or lift a paperweight (or any other handy weighty object)
- Adults should get four types of exercise every week: cardiovascular, resistance, flexibility and neuro-motor (balance promoting).
- Adults should get 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week.
- Adults need resistance exercises 2-3 times a week.
- Do stretching exercises 2-3 times a week
- Adults (not just seniors) should do balance exercises 2-3 times a week to reduce the incidence of falls.
If this sounds like a lot, well, compared to what most of us do, it is. But you are here learning how to save for retirement, why not make these changes to improve your chances of being around to enjoy it?
It’s,,,, humph, really oohh, just a few tweaks ummmmm here and there hmmmmm. (I’m working on that paperweight resistance training, ok?)
Join me?
Reader Questions: Is your job sedentary and what are you doing about it, besides dying early????
Cil Burke BSN-THE Millionaire Nurse!
“Like” me please!
My goal is 1000 Facebook likes before the end of the year. Please hit the “Like” button and help me reach my goal.
Follow Cil @cilburke
Follow Dean @DrDeanBurke
Tags: are sedentary jobs dangerous, how to stay fit, how to stay fit when working in a sedentary job, sedentary job dangers
Love this: “besides dying early, what are you doing?”
I sit for majority of my day. It’s frustrating because I consider myself active. I get up as often as I can but I’m still left in front of the computer for far too long. When I leave work I try to work out but as you said, the 1 hr hardly offsets the 9 hrs.
As a teacher, I am aware of my colleagues who teach sitting down. I cannot teach that way. I am constantly moving in my classroom. So much so, I notice I am losing weight (inches).
The best way to fight boredom and anxiety is to get moving. I’ve found that hiking even if you walk slow along trails makes me feel so much better about everything in life. It’s easy to take a trail walk for an hour after work and the things you see are amazing. I’m a nature lover though. Great article.
Dr Dean,
I walk about 16K steps per day. I wear pedometer to keep track of my steps. I’ve lost over 17 lbs in last one year. I used to weigh 172lbs. Now, at 155 lbs, I feel healthier.
Great job, it helps to have the pedometer to give you feedback.
[...] I keep telling my interns about the advice I learned from the Millionaire Nurse Blog this week. Sitting around eating Blue Bell ice cream is killing them. [...]
[...] Nurse remains one of my favorite bloggers out there, and this week, he spoke right to me by asking Killer Jobs: Do You Have One? He reminds all of us with our cubicle jobs that there are things we can do to get ourselves [...]
[...] panel does have some semblance of credibility; besides Average Joe, it also includes Dr. Dean (the Millionaire Nurse Blog), Carrie (Careful Cents) and the up-to-now “mystery blogger” from Your Finances [...]
[...] Dean @ The Millionaire Nurse Blog writes Killer Jobs: Do You Have One? – Is your job killing you, one keystroke at the time? What can you do when your job requires [...]
[...] on why credit union may be the better of the twoDr. Dean @ The Millionaire Nurse Blog posted Killer Jobs: Do You Have One? – Is your job killing you, one keystroke at the time? What can you do when your job requires [...]
[...] Dean presents Killer Jobs: Do You Have One? posted at The Millionaire Nurse Blog, saying, “Is your job killing you, one keystroke at the [...]
[...] Index Funds Win Big from Free Money Finance; Killer Jobs: Do You Have One from The Millionaire Nurse Blog; The Only 3 Ways To Get a Sweet Ass Government Job from Cult of [...]
[...] Dean @ The Millionaire Nurse Blogh writes Killer Jobs: Do You Have One? – Busy? We’re all busy. Could we make better use of our time? Absolutely. Here’s a [...]
[...] Dean @ writes Killer Jobs: Do You Have One? – Is your job killing you, one keystroke at the time? What can you do when your job requires [...]
Very convincing, I mean, alarming! set of facts out there. I surely need a few tweaks on that myself. I guess there are also some productive physical activities like regularly doing the grocery or a healthy walk by taking lunch at a cafeteria located not very near your place.
Gotta keep moving and grooving.
[...] Dean presents Killer Jobs: Do You Have One? posted at Dr. Dean’s TheMillionaireNurse.com Blog, saying, “Your working hard and your [...]
We work to live, not to die. Yes, of course! Most of us are tied to deskbound jobs, sitting on our desks 8 hours a day. My present job is exactly like that. I’m on my desk recording pleadings, entertaining phone calls, attending to clients, and receiving documents.
At the end of the day, I get sore butt, backache and feet clumps. Not to mention red tire eyes.
Killer job is it?
This blog post is very helpful in alleviating body aches at the end of the day. Now I am thinking whether to keep my job…