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NEWS
Move it – for your health
Are you standing up whilst reading this? A recent study shows that perhaps you should be.
The negative health effects office workers suffer as a result of prolonged sitting are the subject of recent research undertaken by the University of Queensland’ s school of human movement.
As part of a three-stage trial study, 60 Brisbane office workers will eventually be seated on pressure-sensitive pads that detect how often they get up from their chairs.“ A‘ traffic light’ visual appears on the worker’ s computer screen with lights that progress from green to amber to red if a break from desk-based sitting does not occur within pre-defined thresholds,” explained Project Energise leader Dr Nicholas Gilson.
The aim, Gilson said, was to make staff more aware of the benefits derived from taking periodic breaks and moving around more.
“ Not being able to move regularly across the working day can lead to an energy imbalance, weight gain and an increase in the likelihood of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers,” Gilson said.“ Prolonged occupational sitting can also be linked to employees working while sick and poor work productivity.”
The first stage of the project will involve an assessment of the normal sitting and movement patterns of the 60 Telstra workers taking part in the study. This will be followed by a series of workshops to educate the subjects about the latest evidence around occupational sitting and health.
The staffers will then be asked to choose from a range of office-based activities that will then be trialled – each aimed at increasing movement during the working day. Such activities include sending emails from portable devices whilst walking around, walk-and-talk meetings, and of course the pressure-pad traffic light system.
The program is funded in part by a National Heart Foundation grant. It is due to be completed by March next year. ■
Australian parents give more booze
Study finds mums and dads born here are more likely to give their children alcohol
Research has found that parents born in Australia are more likely to supply their teenage children with alcohol than immigrant parents, particularly when bottle shops and other licensed premises are common in their local area.
A survey of more than 10,000 Victorian students between the ages of 12 and 17, carried out by researchers at Deakin University, found that more than half( 55 per cent) had used alcohol in the past 12 months. Of these, just more than one-third reported that their parents had supplied the alcohol.
Researchers also found that as the density of alcohol outlets in a local area increased, the likelihood of parental alcohol supply greatly increased for teenagers of Australian-born parents, compared with those who have immigrant parents.
The study categorised alcohol outlets as general( public bars), package outlets( bottle shops), on-premise outlets( licensed restaurants and cafes) and licensed clubs.
“ Each unit increase in the density of takeaway liquor stores increased the likelihood by 2.03 that children with both Australian-born parents would be supplied alcohol,” the study found.“ Adolescents with both immigrant parents on the other hand, had a 1.36 increased risk of being supplied alcohol as the density of outlets requiring at-venue consumption increased.”
Lead author Dr Bosco Rowland said the findings for Australian-born and immigrant families aligned with the different cultural conventions towards youth alcohol use.
“ Australian-born parents tend to be more aware that youth alcohol use is common, so living near lots of bottle shops may make them more pessimistic that they can prevent their adolescent obtaining alcohol,” Rowland said.“ This may lead them to supply alcohol at home in the hope this will encourage moderate youth alcohol use.
“ The immigrant families tend to be more successful at discouraging adolescent alcohol use. However, when they live near licensed restaurants and cafes they are likely to witness other children being served alcohol by their parents and this role modelling may lead them to adopt similar practices.” ■
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