Corporate Archives

A while ago, a new catchphrase started doing the rounds, namely that ‘sitting is going to be the next smoking’. And the more I think about it, the more I have to agree – unfortunately! We all know that smoking is bad for our health. It’s been linked with cancer, long-term lung disease and heart disease to name but a few. Smoking is thought to be the greatest cause of preventable death in the world. So can sitting really be as bad for us as smoking?

What is so bad about sitting anyway?
Experts are describing inactivity as one of the biggest challenges in health. A sedentary lifestyle has now been linked to heart disease, diabetes, cancers, obesity and poor mental health. Sitting for more than 4 hours each day has been shown to slow the metabolism and affect the way the body controls blood pressure, sugar levels and the breakdown of fats. Unfortunately, the effect is also found in people who class themselves as fit (such as those getting regular exercise), if they also spend long periods of time sitting.

Is sitting bad for business?
Sitting for too long (more than 4 hours a day) is bad for business too. As well to the cost of absenteeism due to sickness, prolonged sitting reduces productivity and performance too. When we sit for long periods of time, our level of alertness drops. As this happens, our efficiency takes a downward slide. Workers who use sit-stand workstations claim to be more alert, task-driven and positive. They also report higher energy levels, especially in the afternoon.

What Can You Do?

Here are just a few ideas to cut back on prolonged sitting, and improve productivity at the same time:

Have a regular break, get up and move about at regular intervals throughout the day. I set the alarm on my phone to go off every 30 minutes for a quick movement break
Try standing or walking meetings, these help to keep meetings short and efficient
Build movement into the day; for example, a lunchtime walk, taking the stairs or walking between meetings
Invest in a standing desk, or a sit-stand desk, so that you and your team can spend time standing each day

So, is sitting worse than smoking?
The number of people smoking has shown a steady decline. In 2013 it was estimated that less than 20% of the UK population smoked, the lowest level in 80 years. A survey by the British Heart Foundation found that 45% of women and 37% of men spend less than 30 minutes a day up on their feet. Almost 80% of office workers feel they spend too much time sitting down.

So while sitting may not be as ‘bad’ for you as smoking, there are certainly a lot more of us doing it! Let’s get creative about activities at the office!

By Tania Barney, a registered Occupational Therapist with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC), UK. Professional qualifications: B App Sc (OT), M App Sc (Health Sciences), University of South Australia.

Have you ever felt as if managing your team is like trying to herd cats? Each with their own personalities, ideas, work styles, ambitions …. and flashpoints?

Being a manager these days can sometimes feel more like being something between a diplomat and a firefighter – spending all your energies on keeping the team together and simply functioning, rather than developing and being truly productive. Or to put it another way, putting out fires rather than igniting the potential within the team.

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Pressures on time and resources are commonplace and everyone is working flat out, so it’s hardly surprising that managers often sense that their team is just about coping rather than being truly effective as if the cogs never quite kick into alignment. The problem is, if ‘just about coping’ is the norm, then you’re only a short step away from flare-ups, avoidable errors … or worse.

The problem of course is knowing what to do about it. You want to be a manager, not a mediator. If only there was a way of getting everyone to take more control over their own behaviours and emotions, some kind of fresh approach that gets to potential flashpoints before they have a chance to build.

Stress is often used as a catch-all diagnosis for these sorts of situations. ‘Everyone is so stressed’ can become a common refrain and one that can, over time, become self-reinforcing: if everyone is stressed, this can legitimise exhibiting the symptoms of stress, and even absence. It can also act as a convenient scapegoat, allowing individuals to abrogate responsibility for taking control of their own lives: ‘it’s not me, it’s the environment we work in. Stress is real, but accepting it as a given can translate as an admission of failure of a situation that has gotten out of control; which begs the question of how to regain that control before problems occur.

Sensory Intelligence® Consulting works with teams to help them do just that. Our approach is based on enabling individuals to regain some equilibrium in their lives by getting in sync with their senses. This will result in:

Improved teamwork and productivity
Improved staff loyalty and retention
Reduced absenteeism and sick leave

Most stress management techniques ask people to learn new skills, often just at the very time when they have little capacity to do so. Our highly practical approach is rooted in making small, day to day, changes which together can add up to significant shifts in how people manage their outlook and stress levels. Our approach is based on building greater awareness of the seven senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing, plus two others, balance and body position) and showing people to tweak what they do already to achieve step-change, rather than introduce new techniques and demands on their time.

Wouldn’t you prefer to have your cats purring rather than fighting?

If you want your team to be in sync and working together harmoniously, join our Sensory Matrix™ workshop to make it happen!

By Tania Barney, a registered Occupational Therapist with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC), UK. Professional qualifications: B App Sc (OT), M App Sc (Health Sciences), University of South Australia.

Category: Corporate

Is sitting really the new smoking?

High-performance teams through syncing the senses