Health Happens in the Workplace: Lessons from the NFL and CTE

Excy is getting ready to exhibit the Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress (EHBC) in Los Angeles next week, so I have my head wrapped around workplace wellness, which became a core area of focus for us when we introduced our latest 200 series with a lower profile for desk cycling, as well as a stand-up unicycle position for standing desks. All of this has me thinking about what's happening in the NFL as an employer of world-class athletes and how the lessons might apply to corporate America.

A good place to start feels like the the debate about holding the league responsible after it spent years denying any link between the sport and CTE, as well as its overall history of inaction concerning head trauma. These are all powerful conversations that need to take place, but simply focusing on the NFL without using it as an opportunity to talk about workplace wellness in general is a lost opportunity.

If we rightfully hold the NFL to the standard of telling athletes what they’re risking or what they might already have suffered, then shouldn’t we hold corporate America to the same standard and discuss the ugly truth about the epidemic of sitting disease?

Here’s what we know about the ways in which sitting disease is shortening our life:

·     Highly Sedentary People Have a Greater Risk of Developing Cancer

·     Frequent Sitters Have a Greater Risk of Developing Heart Disease

·     Sitting Increases the Risk of Obesity

·     Prolonged Sitting Increases the Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes

·     Frequent Sitters are Susceptible to Muscular Issues

·     Constant Sitting Interferes with LPL

·     Sedentary Habits are Associated with Higher Risk of Developing Depression

The question for corporate America becomes similar to the questions surfacing for the NFL… What did you know, and when did you know it?

According to the American Heart Association, sedentary jobs have increased 83 percent since 1950; physically active jobs now make up less than 20 percent of our workforce. In 1960, about half of the US workforce was physically active. According to a poll of nearly 6,300 people by the Institute for Medicine and Public Health, it’s likely that you spend a stunning 56 hours a week planted like a geranium — staring at your computer screen, working the steering wheel, or collapsed in a heap in front of your high-def TV.

As I mentioned in my post “Take Back Your Pound of Flesh”, it’s the employees who are often the most loyal who often give up the most when it comes to their health. It’s the call center representative on the phone all day supporting customers, the truck driver racking up steering wheel miles to pick up and deliver goods, or the traveling sales professional spending more time on airplanes and driving than with their family to secure the next purchase order.

Yet, how many of these employees filter into sedentary jobs not realizing how indiscriminately sitting disease will claim them as victims? How many of those employees wrongfully believe that they can make up for the negative effects of sitting with an intense workout later that night when the American Heart Association specifically warns that exercise doesn’t seem to undo the health effects of excessive sitting?

Sure, there will be employees who know the risks of sitting disease and who choose to be sedentary regardless of research, just as football players and parents continue to participate in the sport (I let my 12 year-old son play for the first time this year). I've documented my own computer sitting health crisis that helped kicked off this Excy journey to fight a genetic pathway of heart disease, yet I still sit A LOT to perform my job.

But, what about those employees who trust their managers who plan long meetings with no moving breaks; people who thought their standup desks were enough to get them moving for health when research shows that’s not the case; or the people who thought that surely no company would ignore the widespread research of screens destroying our eyes.

According the Mayo Clinic, the solution seems to be more moving overall. For example:

• Stand while talking on the phone or eating lunch.
• If you work at a desk for long periods of time, try a standing desk — or improvise with a high table or counter.
• Walk laps with your colleagues rather than gathering in a conference room for meetings.
• Position your work surface above a treadmill — with a computer screen and keyboard on a stand or a specialized treadmill-ready vertical desk — so that you can be in motion throughout the day.

At Excy, we are fans of short, intense physical activity burst throughout the day that amount to 10 to 30 seconds at a time. Sometimes it can feel feel easier to break it up into small chunks compared to taking a long walk, going to the gym, or trying to type and walk on a treadmill desk at the same time. For example, set movement reminders that prompt you when you've been sitting to long (Apple Watch is great for this, but use whatever you can). During these prompts, we encourage people to take quick intense Excy cardio and strength training breaks and drive their heart rate to 120/130/140 BPM and then I jump back into work once the goal is met. There’s a lot of research showing that short bursts of physical activity are as good for health as longer workouts and it can be a real productivity boost as you jump into the next tasks (no sweat required). All of this isn't rocket science, but it takes a company committed to creating movement cultures. Our bodies were designed to move, but since we know we are racking of the sitting time and sedentary jobs are on the rise, we have to move in much more efficient and effective ways to avoid sitting disease.

This brings me back to the NFL. They are now trying to make progress, not only in rule changes, but also equipment and these changes are making it down stream in how kids practice and play the game (still lots of room for improvement). It's an amazing opportunity to also ask corporate America how will they change the rules, the equipment and corporate culture as a whole? How will they make progress that helps prevent sitting disease, which the American College of Cardiology links to increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and says that it could be just as dangerous, if not more so, than smoking.

Whether it’s the NFL’s attempt to address the concerns of CTE or corporate America addressing the concerns of sitting disease, all employers benefit from making it easier for employees to focus on their health. Not only could it lead to more productive and healthier employees while lowering costs associated with health care, absenteeism, and employee turnover, it is also the right thing to do. If you don’t think health happens at work, what if you are dead wrong? Will it take a book like League of Denial, by Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada or a Hollywood movie like Concussion for more corporations to make the growing the number of sedentary jobs safer?

At Excy, we have a position and level of intensity of workplace exercises for anyone, whether a triathlete, a beginner, or living with injury and limited mobility. If you are attending Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress (EHBC), stop by booth (#wm2) and let us show you how we fit into a broader mix of helping people move more at work and our plans for also connecting those movements between home and the office.