Workers can ramp up capabilities by keeping active at the workplace

Workers can ramp up their capabilities by keeping active in the workplace through changes in the physical environment, highlights research by the University of Tsukuba.

This includes solutions such as using standing desks and installing a shower room in the workplace, as well as incentive programmes to reward employees for increasing indicators of physical activity such as their daily step count.

 “The negative health effects of a sedentary lifestyle are being taken increasingly seriously in Japan as a public health issue,” said Yoshio Nakata, one of the study’s authors, according to News 18. 

“Because office workers spend more than 70%of their working hours sitting, they are at higher risk of developing conditions such as diabetes,” Nakata added. 

“The importance workers place on physical activity results from factors related to the individual, the socio-cultural environment, the physical environment, and the organisational culture,” said Nakata.