Corporates are redesigning the workday to fight the silent dangers of prolonged sitting. Movement is becoming a productivity essential — because a healthier workforce performs better. English entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Airlines, Richard Branson had recently re-posted his iconic quote on employee wellness from his LinkedIn handle. “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers,” his post reads. (1). This online post reflects the gradual shift that global and Indian corporates underwent during the recent decades to adopt focused, personalized and employee friendly health initiatives at workplace. The motive has been to enhance employee wellness and productivity of the organization. Adopting customized office ergonomic initiatives along with embedding more opportunities for the employees to break their sedentary work routines to offer them holistic wellness has become even more relevant nowadays. It has also been reported that India’s stride to become a 5 trillion-dollar economy could be achieved with a healthy and productive corporate workforce that would add 1.5 trillion to our GDP by 2047 (1.1). The health perils of prolonged sitting by now all of us must have heard the famous phrase –‘Sitting is the new smoking.’ Dr James A Levine, an endocrinologist with over three decades of experience researching obesity at Mayo Clinic coined it to describe how sitting impacts our health (4). Apple CEO Tim Cook went a step further and accused sitting of being the new cancer at a SanFransisco event in 2015. Though he seemed to have been a bit carried away while pitching the ‘stand up alert’ feature on apple smartwatch, he wasn’t way off the mark. (4) Multiple research studies have confirmed sedentary lifestyle, mainly prolonged sitting as a major causative factor for an array of metabolic and cardiovascular conditions (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) including: 1)Obesity- Slows down metabolism and calorie burn. 2) Type 2 diabetes - Increases inflammation and reduces glucose uptake through muscles. 3) Hypertension - Affects normal blood circulation especially upwards from lower limbs leading to blood pressure spikes. 4) Non-alcoholic fatty liver- Disrupts fat metabolism leading to excess abdominal visceral fat deposition. 5) Chronic back pain- Weakens hip muscles and also adversely affects the spine if proper posture is not maintained while sitting 6) Muscle loss- Reduces supply of oxygenated blood and nutrients to lower body muscles. Apart from these direct impacts, prolonged sitting could also trigger additional comorbidities of the above-mentioned conditions, especially obesity including higher risk of cancer, blood clot formation in arteries that could cause heart attacks and severe mental stress and anxiety (9.1). Movement is the best medicine The human body is not genetically engineered to be in a state of constant inertia- especially slouched on a chair in front of a bright computer laptop screen. Unfortunately, an average Indian corporate employee spends over 30 hours at the workstation every week on their 9 am to 5 pm shift and is in dire need of personalized intervention to include movement and simple exercises. Poor posture while sitting and excess stress are often rated as the most common factors responsible for chronic pain in corporate employees. These two conditions form a vicious loop of chronic pain as maintaining proper posture while sitting or walking is almost impossible for a stressed-out individual. The health and pain benefits of movement and exercise include: - 1) Better chronic pain management – Movement improves blood circulation to muscles and joints that helps to reduce inflammation and pain. It also improves muscle strength in the joints and reduces strain on joints. 2) Helps in weight management: Burns excess calories and releases muscle tension, which improves mobility. 3) Improves heart health and immunity: Better blood flow means less strain for heart to pump oxygenated blood across the body to ensure better immunity. 4) Ensures better diabetes management: Muscle fibers during contraction (exercise) can directly take up and use glucose from the blood for energy and helps in improving insulin sensitivity. 5) Great stress buster and mood enhancer: Exercising releases endorphins or pain-relieving chemicals that helps to relieve stress. 6) Improves metabolism: Muscles release a group of signaling proteins called myokines during exercise that has an anti-inflammatory effect and also triggers faster fat burn to ensure better metabolism. Embedding movement and wellness in corporate life Corporate health policies are now being formulated with a three-pronged initiative focusing equally on the employer, employee and job specific target requirements. From workstations that provide comfort with proper posture support accessories like ergonomic chairs, computer stands to standing desks. Even stress ball trays are being ensured on each table to ensure that employees could maintain their physical and mental health and also remain productive. Workplace policies are also being drafted accordingly that give ample opportunities for the employee to include movement in their life. Employee health is now being treated as a commodity with an equal investment from the employer and the employee. Some of the initiatives from the employer include: 1) Hybrid and standing work desks: Standing and working helps to burn more calories and also helps in posture correction. It is a quick and healthy relief from prolonged sitting. There are also hybrid work desks fitted with treadmill and bike pedals that allows the employee to walk and pedal while filing their reports. 2) Stretch breaks: A five-to-10-minute stretch breaks during the first and second half would help to flex your muscles, relax and improve blood flow. 3) Group fitness activities: Form fitness activity clubs within the office for physical activities like yoga, dance and aerobics and also ensure employees sign up for these activities along with their office buddies 4) Sports and athletic events: Regularly organise tournaments for popular sports like cricket, football or badminton or athletic events like marathon and walkathons for employees. 5) Wellness applications: Invest in wellness applications with fitness goal setting options that come with benefits like employee discount for health check-ups and doctor consultation. These apps could also give health notifications or nudges to employees to meet their goals. 6) Recreation rooms: Setting up health spaces with basic gym equipment where employees can head to flex their muscles during free time. 7) Health and fitness rewards: Simple health and fitness challenges like ‘50 pushup challenge’ could be announced and those who manage to achieve it could be felicitated within the organization to motivate them and also their colleagues. 8) Mandatory taichi and yoga sessions: Organise mandatory Taichi and yoga sessions to help employees improve their breathing pattern, enhance mobility and reduce their stress so that they can focus on their work and personal health targets. How employees could make movement part of their daily routine 1. 60-minute sitting window: Set a personal reminder on your phone or watch to get up from your seat after every 60 minutes and take a couple of steps and then resume your work to relax your lower body muscles and improve blood circulation. 2. Have a mandatory post lunch walk: Since muscles are involved in glucose uptake, a post lunch walk not only helps to burn calories but also manage the blood sugar spikes from your meal. 3. Walk the talk: Try to take your calls while you are walking or atleast standing as you could burn more calories than doing the same from your seat. If you have group discussions with less than five colleagues, then try doing a walking meeting. 4. Try exercise snacking: Exercise snacking is the new trend of indulging in short bursts of simple exercises like doing 15 squats or 10 pushups when you get 10 or 15 mins of free time during your workhours. 5. Shun the elevator: Climbing stairs a couple of times a day is a great way to burn excess calories and stay in shape. Don’t overexert yourself if you have any underlying cardiac or respiratory conditions 6 Seated pushups: Flexing your soleus muscles in your lower legs is an effective seated exercise that also helps to reduce blood glucose levels. Place your feet firmly on the ground while sitting and raise your heels and without lifting your toes from the ground and keep repeating it. 7 Leg lifts for blood circulation: Calf muscles in our legs are often referred to as our second heart as these muscles have to push de-oxygenated blood back to our heart. Simple leg lifts, calf raises and seated marching helps to activate our calf muscles to push back the blood back to the heart. It also reduces strain on our heart while continuously pumping blood to upper and lower body 8 Fitness commute: If possible, stop driving down to office and try to either walk or cycle to workplace so that your daily commute becomes your fitness routine.