Workers eager to exercise and eat better

Questionnaire: Four out of 10 workers would like to exercise more and improve their diets in 2005, according to the results of a new international web-based survey.

Some 38 per cent of more than 3,500 people who replied to an online training organisation's monthly questionnaire rated eating better and getting more exercise as the preferred area of improvement in their lives from a choice of five.

Twenty-two per cent of respondents said they would like to work smarter which is the aim of the training programmes to which they have subscribed.

Fourteen per cent said they would like to spend more time with their families. Some 12 per cent said they would like to work on their friendships and social circles while only 11 per cent said they would like to learn a new skill.

Dermot Rice, who set up the Irish franchise of Priority Management International, the training organisation which carried out the survey, said he was not surprised by the results.

"We have found that people are looking at the work/life balance or imbalance and trying to get some semblance of normality back into their lives.

"Many people are working too long in the office, spending too many hours sitting down, stressed out and not getting their work done. People are getting very concerned about this whole area."

An international expert on exercise, Prof Kerry Mummery from the School of Health and Human Performance at Central Queensland University, Australia, suggested the combined effect of too much sitting at desks, sitting in the car, sitting around at home is causing the obesity epidemic with which we are struggling.

Recent data from an Australian study proved a direct link between hours spent sitting and obesity.

"People who normally spent two and a half to six hours a day sitting at work were 48 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese than those whose job had them sitting for less than two and a half hours," he said.

The Australian 10,000 steps project suggests people increase their day-to-day activity levels by accumulating incidental physical activity as part of everyday living.