Sitting too long at work can be fatal

WELLINGTON - Working longer hours at a desk job might impress your boss, but it’s definitely not good for your health, says a new research.

A new Kiwi research proposed that people who sit without moving for 10 hours a day - and for at least two hours without getting up - are three times more at risk of an embolism or deep vein thrombosis than those who do not.

The study was conducted by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand.

Lead researcher Richard Beasley said the risks were potentially higher than for those who took long-haul flights because though the absolute risk was lower, more people were sedentary at work more often.

“For many patients this is the major risk factor,” Stuff.co.nz quoted him as saying.

Embolisms and DVT are potentially life-threatening blood clots.

The study compared 197 people who had suffered veinous thromboembolism with 197 controls, and checked for stationary behaviour within the month before the embolism.

Jennie Darby, 62, changed the habits of a lifetime after suffering DVT in her left calf three years ago.

“I would sit at my computer for four, six, eight hours at a time, getting up for my lunch and an occasional glass of water, and that’s all. Now I am super-conscious getting up, walking around and doing things,” she said.

Though her grandfather died of an embolism and she had other high risk factors, such as her age, gender, and hormone therapy treatment, Darby considered her former sedentary work behaviour a main factor.

The results of the study are published in the British publication Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. (ANI)