Are you at work? Are you sitting down? You may want to get on your feet, as a new study has found a link between occupational sitting and increased risks of obesity.

The researchers – from the School of Medicine and the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, MO – publish their findings in Preventing Chronic Disease, a journal of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Health guidelines in the US suggest that adults undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity – such as brisk walking – or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity – such as jogging – each week.

Individuals who have a sedentary lifestyle are at risk of several conditions, including pressure, anxiety, depression and certain cancers. Additionally, overweight and obesity are recognized risk factors for several chronic diseases. Unfortunately, prevalence of overweight and obesity in the US is on the rise, with trends in obesity expected to increase medical costs by $48-66 billion each year during the next 20 years. Researchers from the latest study – led by Lin Yang, postdoctoral research associate at the Prevention Research Center in St. Louis – say until now, few studies have focused on the link between occupational sitting and body mass index (BMI).

Given that many of us spend so much time at work, the team thought it was important to investigate further. “The objective of this study was to quantify the association between self-reported occupational sitting time and BMI by gender and race,” says Yang, “independent of time spent in physical activity outside of work.”