Office yoga routine could reduce mortality rate in workers

Experts have created a potentially life-saving desk yoga workout video to combat the ‘killer’ lifestyle of Britain’s office workers.

Inactivity now causes up to five million deaths a year, which is the same as smoking. Those who sit for at least eight hours a day and don’t engage in any physical exercise have a mortality rate of 9.9%. And despite UK guidelines suggesting Brits should exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, only half of women and a third of men actually meet the requirements.

In response to findings published in the Lancet medical journal, office furniture supplier Furniture at Work has teamed up with yoga teacher Samantha Shaw to create an ‘office yoga’ programme.

To avoid ribbing from colleagues, the stretches and positions are so subtle that workers can strike a pose without colleagues even knowing they are doing a yoga workout. The five-minute drill includes aptly titled beginners’ stretches such as ‘The Lengthy Meeting’, ‘Morning Coffee’ and ‘The Office Gossip’, all of which take place in the office chair.

Samantha Shaw said: “I’ve had desk jobs my whole career and never really thought of it being a problem because I get to the gym about three times a week. But the study has really set off my alarm bells. If I can reduce my chances of cancer and heart disease by contorting myself in my office chair, then I’ll definitely do it.”

The video also features more advance exercises, which may get noticed in the middle of a busy office. These include the ‘Office Desks’, ‘The Bank Holiday Monday’ and ‘The Coat Rack’, all of which require office workers to leave the comfort of their desk and test their flexibility to the limit.

Furniture at Work’s Bob Robinson said: “We all know that getting enough exercise is an important part of keeping healthy, but being faced with the fact that we’re not even doing half of what we could to reduce the risk is shocking.

“We make every effort to supply our customers with the best equipment to work with, making sure they have a comfortable and productive work environment. To find out that the environments we help create may be risking people’s lives is something we can’t simply do nothing about. That’s why we’ve developed this fun and simple set of exercises. Even a little movement could help prolong your life.”

To see the video click HERE.