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Turning that ‘why’ into ACTION

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If you had a look at our previous post about Finding Your ‘Why’ for reducing your sedentary time at work, you will have seen a bunch of questions asking you about why this change is important to you. In this blog, we’re picking up from that last question – what comes next? ­– and helping you to move from contemplating the ‘why’, to seeing your goals in action. We’ll do this by filling the G.A.P. – using Goal setting, Action planning and Progress evaluation. We have applied some research on goal-setting (explained here) to provide you with some questions that follow this framework. GOAL SETTING The focus here is on identifying where you are now and where you want to be. If there is a gap there, we’re working out what needs to happen to help bridge that gap. Think about where you’re at right now with your sedentary time at work. How do you feel when you think about your current physical activity at work? Next, think about where you want to be with your sedentary time at work. How would you like your physical activity to look throughout your workday? Is there a difference or a gap between where your…

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Optimising working from home – for you and your employer

Latest evidence

Easy traps to fall into Working from home (WFH) became a necessity during the covid pandemic and has persisted since, being the preferred option for many. Previous research on the effects of work relocation to the home environment has demonstrated an increase in sitting time and reduced physical activity for WFH workers1. WFH workers spend more time sedentary, with more bouts of sedentary behaviour (SB) >30 mins per day, and less steps/day than in-office employees2. It is well established that high levels of SB are associated with increased rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and all-cause mortality, as well mental health conditions like depression and anxiety3. Sedentary behaviour, and the mental health effects associated, both indirectly and directly reduce work performance and employee productivity3. Where does BeUpstanding come in? Programs like BeUpstanding aim to support workers to be less sedentary and increase their movement through raising awareness and creating a culture where these behaviours are the norm. Research indicates that for desk-based workplaces, approximately 75% of the working day is spent sitting2. For many, office work constitutes a significant portion of their week, this accumulates to a lot of sedentary time. Studies like the Stand More AT (SMArT) Work…

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Why a trip to the park may be your new best friend

Latest evidence

It’s spring-time in Australia, which means more time outdoors. More picnics, more sunset walks, more swooping magpies… Despite the need for anti-histamines and straw-riddled helmets, spring in Australia offers warmth, greenery and beauty that sometimes gets lost among the long winter months of the southern states. So, what if we told you that these green environments not only offer us a pleasing scenery, but also offer a green light for our mental health and wellbeing? Research has suggested that exercise in outdoor green environments has a more positive effect on our mental health than exercising in outdoor urban environments, like a city or town. In fact, time spent in nature, even without the exercise can do us some good. One study found that those who spent over 120 minutes of their week in nature had consistently greater levels of health and wellbeing than those spending under 120 minutes of their week in nature. And this applied across multiple frequencies – whether that be spread out across the week or 120 minutes all at once. It really wasn’t a case of “more is more”, because the benefits peaked around the 120 minute mark, before starting to drop off again. This brings…

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Preventing burnout – UQ medical students aiming to expand research on tools at your disposal

Latest evidence

Burnout: a pervasive and damaging condition Burnout is more than a trivial term to describe how you feel on Friday afternoon. In fact, a growing body of research suggests it is a chronic constellation of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced sense of accomplishment1. Importantly, burnout does not discriminate, and can affect people in all professions. Signs and symptoms of burnout: 2,3 Emotional symptoms Physical symptoms Behavioural signs Helplessness Lack of energy / fatigue Feeling negative or critical about your job Cynicism Change in sleep habits Irritability with colleagues or clients Self-doubt Unexplained physical discomfort such as headaches or bowel issues Reduced productivity Reduced satisfaction Change in appetites Using food, drugs or alcohol to cope Detachment Frequent illness Procrastination Loss of motivation Withdrawal or isolation Is it really that big of a problem? Due to multifactorial components and subjectivity of diagnostic criteria, it is difficult to accurately state how common burnout is in the general working population. Some estimates range up to 20%, but this is dependent on the defined cut off for a burnout diagnosis4. A 2020 report found a rate of burnout in medical physicians of around 43% 4. While burnout rates across various healthcare profession and medical…

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How does the workplace environment impact on movement?

Latest evidence

Just take a minute to picture the environment of your workplace. What is the layout like? Are you required to get off your seat and walk to the printer located in a shared space, or do you scoot your seat to the end of the desk to retrieve that document? Are your colleagues or the partition in your line of vision? Is your workplace your home? The environment has a key influence on behaviour – including our sedentary and physical activity behaviour. The role of the workplace environment on movement behaviour was examined in a recent study by Holmes and colleagues. Here, the associations between workplace characteristics and movement patterns were examined in a group of 271 desk-based workers in the USA. The participants were part of a broader study that was conducted between December 2017 and August 2022, so the findings cross-over the COVID-19 period. They examined both physical workplace characteristics, such as the placement of office equipment, stairs, elevators, and access to common areas, as well as social characteristics, such as face-to-face interactions and workplace socialising. The workplace characteristics were measured by questionnaire, while the movement patterns were measured by an activPAL – which is a device attached to…

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Finding your ‘why’ for moving more at work

Latest evidence

This won’t be like most articles that you’re used to reading online. You won’t find 6 quick steps to feeling more motivated to reduce sedentary time at work. You won’t see expert secrets that promise “one strategy to unlocking your inner drive”. What you might find is something more valuable to you as an individual. Because the reality is, we’re all just too different for there to be one motivation to change. No one thinks and experiences the world quite like you do. What motivates you to move more at work, may not be the same thing that motivates your colleague, team leader or morning coffee buddy. In a world where we’re loaded with information about what we should and shouldn’t do, we could probably do with a bit more “why” time. So, we’ve parked the “what” for now and instead focused on ways for you to consider your own internal motivators. This is a way to help you to find your own, individual ‘why’ for reducing the sedentary time and moving more at work. If you’re still reading, it’s likely that you’re thinking about changing your sedentary time at work. Or at the very least, you’re curious about whether…

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Interventions to reduce occupational sedentary time – review evidence

Latest evidence

A research group has recently published two meta-analyses – one on the effects of active workstations on reducing work sedentary time, and one examining the effectiveness of multi-component interventions to reduce workplace sedentary behaviour. Meta-analyses combine the results from multiple studies, and thus can provide higher quality evidence than a single study. They can also provide information on how consistent the effect of an intervention is when tested in different populations and different settings. Active workstations include sit-stand desks, under-desk cycles and treadmill desks. The first review examined the impact of different types of active workstation interventions on work-specific sedentary time. Concomitant strategies, such as prompting or individual support as well as multicomponent approaches, were also considered. A total of 23 eligible studies with 1428 office workers were included in the review. The meta-analysis showed that compared to a typical desk (i.e., a non-active one), sit-stand workstations either by themselves, or when used as part of a multi-component intervention or with promotion (e.g., prompts) were effective at reducing work sedentary time in office workers, as were treadmill workstations when used with promotion. Notably, multicomponent interventions and active workstations plus promotion showed greater effectiveness than active workstations alone – a finding consistent with…

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Creativity in motion

Latest evidence

It’s ten minutes from lunch and you’ve just finished a long meeting. Toward the end of the meeting, a new project proposal was raised by your manager. This project is different to your average work project and requires consideration of factors not typically present within your usual work. You ran out of time in the meeting to brainstorm as a team, so your manager encouraged you to think about possible ways to creatively and effectively approach the project between now and the next meeting. Your options for the next ten minutes are: Quickly return to your desk and use the time to tick off some easy tasks before lunch. Stay in the board room and write down some strategies for the project proposal while it’s fresh. Take a ten-minute walk and verbally brainstorm your ideas. If you picked option “3”, you might just come up with the most amount of appropriately novel (or creative) ideas. How? A study by researchers from Stanford University tested university students’ ability to produce creative ideas from either a seated or a walking condition. It was found that those who switched from sitting to walking in their second trial, produced more novel and quality ideas…

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Moving for your mind

Latest evidence

We’ve all heard that moving is good for our bodies and that the more we do it, the better. Being active not only supports circulatory, muscular and skeletal system health, helping to make us fitter and stronger, it also has the power to reduce the likelihood of some cancers developing. So, what about our minds? What happens to our mental wellbeing when we are physically active? It turns out, exercise can play a key role in reducing the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Even for moderate to severe cases of depression or for those experiencing chronic health or neurological conditions, where the risk of developing depression is greater. Exercise can also help with improving our sleep quality, which can be impacted by depression and anxiety. And whilst engaging in regular physical activity in leisure time not only helps to reduce symptoms of depression in adults, it may even play a role in preventing depression from developing. So, how much physical activity is ‘enough’? And can we count the house-work? The Australian Government recommends that the average adult should aim for 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate intensity physical activity each week or 1.25 to 2.5 hours of vigorous intensity…

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Sedentary Behaviour and Sleep Quality

Latest evidence

High-quality sleep is an important factor in sustaining health and improving well-being. Previous evidence has demonstrated the positive associations between increased physical activity and reduced sedentary behaviour (SB) with sleep quality. In a recent study published in Scientific Reports in January 2023, researchers in Japan aimed to explore the relationship between sedentary behaviour (SB), light-intensity physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sleep quality in middle-aged adults. The study used an isotemporal substitution approach to examine the relationship between physical activity and sleep quality. This approach involves replacing one type of activity with another while keeping the total amount of time spent active the same. The participants were middle-aged adults who wore accelerometers to objectively measure their daily time spent in sedentary behaviour, light physical activity (LPA), and MVPA. They also completed self-reported questionnaires to assess their rest by sleep and sleep quality. The results of the study showed that each 60-minute unit of sedentary time or LPA replaced with MVPA was associated with improved rest by sleep in women. However, there were no significant associations found between physical activity levels and sleep measures in men across all three models. The study highlights the importance of considering substitutional relationships…

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