Sitting at a pc for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Is it healthy?

By Sandy Hamilton MIEE

The culture of our workplace has changed. In years gone by in many professions the workforce would spend a fair percentage of their time on their feet. In some professions that is still the case, however with the advent of computers and computing we now see many cases where a worker can spend a full day sitting at a desk.

It is questionable as to how alert one can remain for a full day in a sitting position.

Productivity and efficiency have been concentrated On production to great effect, but have we missed out on doing the same with our computer operators? Is productivity among pc operators in fact the sleeping giant of the modern industrial age? Casting an eye over our workplace activities we see documentation, personnel, management, design and test, production control and salary are suites of software tools, filing is a database, travel booking , purchasing, banking, tax and vat are processed over the net and printing is a mouse click away. All activities carried out whilst sitting in front of the pc. Most of the above are now familiar and common place and research would possibly show that a large percentage of our economy relies on computer operators and a fair percentage of these operators will spend many hours a day sitting at their desks. So, are we missing an opportunity for greater output, is sitting unhealthy for our economy and furthermore sitting for 8 hours a day, is that really healthy for our bodies? Take a look at the many wrist supports, ergonomic keyboards, ergonomic mice, ergonomic desks and ergonomic chairs etc. which suggest that there is some discomfort that these devices are trying to protect us from. You may wish to read the Health and Safety leaflets ‘Working with VDU’s’ for some insight. Like many people, although I had never really considered it until recently I am sure that if questioned I would have said that sitting down was something that we do for comfort. Interesting then that all these devices and pieces of furniture exist at all and prompts the question

has the computer made sitting down an uncomfortable exercise?

To a certain extent some would argue that yes it has. Sitting itself is not uncomfortable, but staying in the same position for a long period of time is uncomfortable, which is why throughout the day many of us can go from a straight backed posture to a lounging posture, sitting on the right then the left. In some instances this is to get more comfortable and in others it is to bring us back to a higher state of alertness. Maybe for the sake of our health and for a step up in productivity instead of looking for the next ‘right’ sitting position, perhaps we should be thinking about standing for a while to make the thought of sitting down a more inviting prospect once again.