Study: Being Too Active At Work Might Increase Your Chances of Being Obese

Many of us struggle to lose weight, and it’s not a very easy thing to do as you need to put in lots of time and effort into workouts and meal-preps while being a working adult.

An international study has found that workers with physically demanding jobs have a greater risk of being obese if they are inactive out of their working hours than other workers who have a pretty well-balanced activity rate.

Researchers from four universities (University of South Australia, the University of Gävle, the University of Copenhagen and the University of Southern Denmark) collaborated with Denmark’s National Research Centre for the Working Environment to conduct this study, reported The Star.

A triaxial accelerometer was attached to the thighs of 807 blue-collar workers to track their time use. This device will allow researchers to be able to analyse links between work, leisure and obesity.

The tracker recorded the workers’ movements over four 24-hour sessions (with at least two working days). In addition to that, the workers also jotted down their activities in a diary. The indicators of obesity in this context are waist circumference, weight, and body fat percentage.

From that data, the workers are separated into 4 categories based on their activity patterns during work and leisure time: Ants, Koalas, Lions and Chimpanzees.

Ants: people who are active throughout the day, both at work and at leisure;

Chimpanzees: people who have a relatively even distributed composition of work and leisure behaviours;

Koalas: people who are more sedentary and less physically active at work and at leisure, while also spending more time in bed; and,

Lions: people who are very active at work, but mostly sit around at home and stay in bed longer.

You might think that koalas would be most at risk for obesity but that is not true. Research shows that lions have the highest risk of being obese!

Dr. Dumuid from the University of South Australia says that this study challenges the belief that exerting a lot of energy is a sure-fire way of being fit when in fact, finding for a balance between exertion and resting is the ultimate move.

She also said that if the body does not have enough time to rest then the body goes into a state of inflammation, where one of the side effects is that it stores excess energy as fats.

“Similarly, someone who is very active at work, but crashes in front of the TV each night is not getting the right balance either – the body needs a balance of activity and recovery throughout the day.”

So guys, make sure that you are active throughout the day but also getting enough rest as equilibrium is a way for you to make sure that you are healthy!

 

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