The Huffington Post is reporting thatonly 6.5 percent of U.S. adults get enough physical activity while they're working, according to a first-of-its-kind national estimate reported Thursday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Another report, published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One, further suggests that America's obesity epidemic can be blamed on the steady rise of sedentary jobs.
Conducted by researchers out of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, the study looked at the level of physical activity in U.S. occupations since 1960. The conclusion? The energy we burn at work has dropped on average by more than 100 calories over the last 50 years — for both men and women.
While it may not come as a surprise that we're spending less time on the factory floor and more time in a chair in front of the computer, the study was the first to put an actual caloric figure on our increasingly sedentary 9-to-5's.
Now we know for sure: There are a variety of factors contributing to obesity in America, including the workplace. We're also wondering what role stress plays in increased weight gain in the workplace. It's good to know what many of us have been thinking: Working in America can be all-consuming, pun intended. The battle of the bulge will continue to be fought in many environments. The workplace is just one of them.
Read more at the Huffington Post.
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