Eat Move Sleep

Often in an industry, the workstation is designed in an arbitrary manner [1], giving little consideration to the anthropometric measurements of the anticipated user. Small changes in workstation dimension can have a considerable impact on worker productivity, and occupational health and safety. Inadequate posture from an improperly designed workstation causes static muscle efforts and then eventually resulting in acute

Adjustable workstations are increasingly becoming a main benefit for organizations using them. When using computers at the workplace, employees typically sit down for longer periods without adjustable designed workstations. Such situations can lead to regular back injuries, stress injuries and other forms of injuries. All these injuries result in lost work time and reduced productivity. Using adjustable workstations reduces employee fatigue, makes them comfortable and helps them avoid standing or sitting in awkward postures. Adjustable designed workstations lowers the rate of suffering from tunnel syndrome injuries, which improves both employer and employee morale. This is characterized by improved productivity, reduction in employee absenteeism and minimal workplace complaints (Washington (State), 2009).

Americans work more than any other country in the industrialized world, which means they spend more time sitting and more time in a sedentary, often non-ergonomic position. What people may not know is that bad posture for an extended period of time can affect mood, health and ultimately, productivity in the workplace.

Someone who works with a computer is also at high risk. If you are leaned over your keyboard for long periods of time, this can lead to back pain. If you keep your head in the same position for a long time, you can develop muscle tension in your neck and shoulders, as well as headaches. One can become nearsighted, OSHA recommends sitting in a neutral body position, or a position that allows your joints to be naturally aligned to reduce the risk of developing MSD-related issues.

According to Time Magazine, a recent analysis of 43 studies indicates a clear link between sitting for hours during the day, and colon, lung and endometrial cancer. Regular exercise did not lower the risks, which were 66 percent higher for those who are typically deskbound at work.

For identifying the perceived musculoskeletal discomfort we used Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) developed by Dr.Allen Hedge at Cornell University. CMDQ is a subjective rating scale for user’s perceived discomfort from work. The intensity of discomfort for each of the 12 body parts mentioned in the CMDQ questionnaires (Appendix B) for male and female was rated on three subscales 1. Frequency score 2. Discomfort score and 3. Interference score. The frequency score was rated from “never” to “several times a day” by weighting the rating scores as in Table 1 to more easily identify the most serious problems:

According to a survey taken by the GAFF (Get America Fit Foundation), seventy-eight percent of Americans do not meet the criteria for daily physical activity. This is an increasing large issue in our country. Not only is it hurting our image as a nation, but it is literally causing us physical harm. There are many disadvantages to being inactive and unhealthy, a major downfall is certain cells in your body, called preadipocyte cells, are precursors to fat cells, and turn into fat cells much more quickly when you are sitting or lying down for extended amounts of time. Even worse, if your body is not used to working out and being active, these precursor cells turning into fat cells will be irreversible, and will cause cell damage (Hartel). Being lazy is okay only in moderation, as long as you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, you are bound to live a long and healthy life.

At California State University, Northridge, the Applied Fitness Lab acted as an apparatus to assist students and clients in addressing and understanding how physical activity can alter health risks, such as physical inactivity and obesity. In the modern working environment, many professions require employees to work behind desks for many hours. Therefore, it reduces the amount of physical activity that a person will receive during their life causing an increase in physical inactivity. A person is classified as physically inactive when they do not meet the recommended level of normal physical activity. Current research suggests that physical inactivity is inversely correlated with the risk obesity (Pradinuk, Chanoine, Goldman, 2011). Obesity, is a result of physical inactivity in large body populations, is a growing health risk factor globally and is linked to many chronic diseases such as high blood pressure or increase risk of heart attacks. Due to the knowledge of these health risks, the purpose of the Applied Fitness Lab is to improve the health of campus staffs by introducing and implementing physical activity through group exercises or one-on-one training to their working schedules.

Staying sedentary for long hours puts an individual at risk of developing any of 35 possible diseases, including cancer and Type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, keeping active and staying healthy can be as easy as a daily SPA or Spontaneous Physical Activity.

Dr. Helen Lee, a DC practitioner and founder of Touch of Life Chiropractic in Hoffman Estates, Illinois said: "Sitting for long periods of time and doing year after year can make circulation decreases, metabolism slows, imbalance of sugar

The employees would have less health risks and their work would have less mistakes. According to some articles I found, sedentary behavior (prolonged sitting) is a novel risk factor for organ damage such as heart disease, over productive pancreas, and colon cancer. Other health concerns include muscle degeneration, leg and back disorders, and slower brain function. Besides sitting down, people with desk jobs also have to worry about Computer Vision Syndrome, also referred to as Digital Eye Strain, which describes a group of eye and vision-related problems that result from prolonged computer use. Some symptoms include: eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision, dry eyes, and neck and shoulder pain. Unfortunately, this is not only a problem where I work, but nationwide these jobs are slowly killing us and we don’t even know it. Therefore, a program designed to exercise our bodies and brains would be substantial to this organization as well as many

Does your work environment require the employees to stand for hours while performing their job? Avoid MSD's and incorporate standing desk floor mats. Also known as anti-fatigue mats, they are designed for comfort, they increase productivity, raise moral, decrease absenteeism,

For many years, students have been sitting down in classrooms. But now people claim that all of this sitting has lead to several cases of heart failure. We will see how this affects both students and adults who sit down for most of the day. In a study from USA Today, sitting for too long has been linked to cancer, type two diabetes and heart failure. One study showed that if we sat down for only three hours a day, it would add two years to an average person’s life. Now if you can increase your life expectancy and prevent diseases, it would only make sense to increase the number of standing desks in the workplace and classroom. An article from CNN tells that when two parents organized an elementary school field day, the children were too big

As working persons we are at an increased risk of multiple health problems caused by poor diet and luck of regular exercises. When we don’t eat properly or don’t drink enough fluids we can lose our concentration, get dehydrated and faint. It can put patients into the risk being dropped while we lifting them, helping them with walking or toileting. Our lifestyle should support a constant healthy weight, so we should remain active daily. Luck of exercises can cause back problems like back pain or back injury while helping the client. It can cause risk for patients to be dropped. The Picture 2 below describe the risk from smoking for our

Always have this at the back of your mind that you are standing every day for hours while working with the purpose of getting more healthier, why the major purpose of the standing desk mat is to help in making the goal of been more healthier becomes accomplishable through the regular reduction of risk of