to health that office workers need to take
an hour of daily exercise to undo the
damage, scientists have warned. For a
Lancet-published study, researchers looked
at data on a million adults, mainly aged
over 45, who’d been tracked for up to 18
years. They found that among the office
workers, those who had exercised for an
hour or more per day had a mortality rate
of 6.2%, whereas the rate for those who
managed less than five minutes per day
was 9.9%. Watching three hours of
television a day was also associated with
increased risk of death in all groups except
the most active. The researchers said any
kind of exercise could count towards the
daily hour; even several brisk walks would
“achieve the benefit”. Steven Ward,
executive editor of pressure group
ukactive, told The Daily Telegraph: “This
report is showing that inactivity kills.
When we realised this about smoking we
tackled it – we need to do the same about
our office culture.”
