Don’t sit all day long at the desk

Office workers spend an average of five hours 41 minutes sitting at their desk every day – almost as much time as their nightly sleep, according to a new study.

Go and talk to your colleagues face to face, it’s a lot more sociable and better for you than e-mailing them

Research among 1,000 employees found that those who sit for longer at work were likely to spend most time sitting down when they got home.

Occupational psychologists Myanna Duncan, Aadil Kazi and professor Cheryl Haslam from Loughborough University, who conducted the study, said prolonged sitting at a desk was potentially bad for a worker’s mental well-being as well as their physical health. Dr Duncan said: “People don’t need a psychologist to tell them to get up and walk around. But if it helps, I’d tell them to put a post-it note on their computer to remind them.

“Anyway go and talk to your colleagues face to face, it’s a lot more sociable and better for you than e-mailing them.”

The research was presented to the British Psychological Society’s annual occupational psychology conference in Chester.