{"id":15024,"date":"2014-02-12T15:03:39","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T15:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/2014-02-12-the-sitting-epidemic\/"},"modified":"2022-11-15T15:08:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T20:08:01","slug":"2014-02-12-the-sitting-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/2014-02-12-the-sitting-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sitting Epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sitting-disease-435mp082613-300x172.jpg\" alt=\"sitting back pain\" width=\"300\" height=\"172\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/2014-02-05-healthy-employees-are-productive-employees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we wrote<\/a> about the productivity benefits of wellness and stressed the need for ALL company leaders (not just the HR team) to champion employee wellness as part of an employee productivity strategy.\u00a0 Today, we are focusing on a simple way that company leaders can increase productivity through promoting employee wellness \u2013 with walking meetings.<\/p>\n<p>A walking meeting is exactly like it sounds \u2013 a meeting that you have while walking instead of sitting at a conference table.\u00a0 Walking meetings encourage employees to get up from their desks and move.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-18362 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/obama_walking_meeting-300x200-1.jpg\" alt=\"walking meeting\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tedeytan.com\/2012\/05\/03\/10626\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study<\/a> by the American Cancer Society, \u201cSitting more than six hours a day increases premature death risk by as much as 40%.\u201d In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tedeytan.com\/2012\/05\/03\/10626\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview<\/a>, oncologist and author of A Short Guide to a Long Life, Dr. David Agus, argued that prolonged sitting is as bad for an individual\u2019s overall health as smoking.\u00a0 Similarly, in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/nilofer_merchant_got_a_meeting_take_a_walk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ted Talk<\/a> on this topic, Nilofer Merchant calls prolonged sitting the \u201csmoking of our generation.\u201d\u00a0 She identified that people sit 9.3 hours a day, which is more than the 7.7 hours that people spend sleeping each night.<\/p>\n<p>Most companies have long ago <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States\">banned smoking<\/a> in the workplace. It\u2019s now time to start tackling this generation\u2019s cigarette \u2013 the sitting epidemic.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-18363 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/don-draper-mad-men-smoking-300x201-1.jpg\" alt=\"smoking\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Below are some tips to help organize effective walking meetings and get employees up and out of their chairs and moving towards a healthier and more productive lifestyle.<\/p>\n<p><!--space--><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"walking-meeting-tips\"><strong>Walking Meeting Tips<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Below tips are from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livingstreets.org.uk\/products-and-services\/projects\/walking-works\">London\u2019s Walking Works<\/a> Program material (with minor edits from the Wellable Team).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Limit numbers to no more than 4 people. This will enable everyone to have a chance to hear and participate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Set an agenda beforehand and inform everyone of the discussion topics so they can arrive prepared.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Noise<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Consider the environment you\u2019ll be walking in.\u00a0 Choose routes along quiet streets or in a nearby green space.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Clothing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Give advance notice for walking meetings so that participants can bring appropriate shoes.\u00a0 Allowing employees to wear more comfortable clothing and shoes in the office is a zero cost employee benefit that also has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/2014-01-08-can-wearing-yoga-pants-to-work-help-promote-wellness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a direct impact on promoting wellness<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Involvement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Try walking 2-3 abreast and make sure everyone can hear what is being discussed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note Taking<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Assign someone to scribe and take along a small notepad to jot down any actions. Be sure to recap and identify next steps and circulate these after your walking meeting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Evaluate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After the first few walking meetings, it might be a good idea to ask participants for feedback on what can be improved for your next walking meeting.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Happy walking!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sitting Epidemic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holistic-workplace-wellness"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.6 (Yoast SEO v24.8.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The 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