People who spend most of their day sitting down at work and their evenings watching TV are much more likely to have multiple unhealthy lifestyle habits, according to a study.
he study, carried out on more than 7,000 Northern Irish civil servants, found prolonged sedentary behaviour is linked with physical inactivity, poor intake of fruit and vegetable, and alcohol overconsumption.
The key result from the examination of the daily habits of Stormont workers was more than seven hours sitting at work and more than two hours of TV viewing on a workday more than doubled the odds of taking part in more than three unhealthy behaviours.
More than three hours of TV viewing on a non-workday nearly tripled the odds of taking part in three or more unhealthy behaviours.
“The three most common unhealthy behaviours associated with sitting at work and while TV viewing were physical inactivity, fruit and vegetable underconsumption and alcohol overconsumption,” Dr Victoria Kettle, the lead author of the study, said.
“Of these three, the most frequent was physical inactivity, with 78pc of office workers not meeting physical activity guidelines.”
The study has implications in Ireland as the last 50 years has seen a sharp decline in employment in agriculture and industry, which tend to be physically demanding, in favour of service jobs which tend to be more sedentary.
Dr Kettle said the high prevalence of sedentary behaviour in office workers left this population at risk of the effects on health associated with high amounts of sitting time.
“These include an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression and all-cause cardiovascular and cancer mortality.”
Of those who spent more than seven hours a day sitting at work and more than two hours in the day sitting while TV viewing, 24pc engaged in more than three unhealthy behaviours. They were compared to people who spent fewer than six hours sitting at work and less than an hour in the evening watching TV
The public health expert said there are a few factors that could explain the associations between sitting time and unhealthy behaviours.
“Firstly, sitting time could be displacing physical activity time, particularly during leisure time or TV viewing, so high sitters tend to spend less time being active”, Dr Kettle said.
“It is also common that people who spend a large amount of time sitting at work also tend to have high amounts of sitting time outside of work.”
The research associate at the Centre for Lifestyle Medicine and Behaviour at Loughborough University said the study found TV viewing is associated with increased unhealthy food and beverage consumption and lower consumption of fruit and vegetables.
“TV advertisements can influence viewers to partake in unhealthy behaviours, with increased smoking also linked to TV advertisements,” she said.
“Additionally, viewers are distracted from how much they are eating while TV viewing, which can lead to overconsumption.”
The most recent census in the Republic of Ireland in April 2016 showed 78.6pc of all employment was in the service sector. This is in stark contrast to the situation 50 years ago, when the sector accounted for just over 41pc of jobs.
There has been a sharp decline in the agriculture sector, with the sector accounting for 4.6pc of total employment in 2016 compared with just over 31pc in 1966. Industrial jobs are down to over 16pc in 2016 compared to 28pc in 1986.
Dr Kettle said there needs to be awareness around the unhealthy effects of sitting time.
“Physical activity monitors can nudge people to be more active using movement alerts, however most cannot distinguish between sitting and standing.
“Moving to activity-permissive workplaces including sit-to-stand desks, centralised printers and bins, and attractive staircases, would be greatly beneficial.”
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