Nowhere in Europe do people sit for more hours in a day than in the Netherlands. With an average of no less than 8.9 sitting hours per day by 2022, the Dutch will be European sitting champions, research agency TNO writes in a report published on Tuesday. Sitting mainly occurs at work (an average of 4.5 hours per day), but also during leisure time (3.4 hours) and when commuting (1 hour). In total, more than a quarter of the Dutch population sits for more than 8.5 hours per day, while only 11 percent of Europeans sit for at least that many hours per day on average.
According to the research agency, there are major differences between professions and sectors: financial specialists and economists, lawyers and software and application developers spend the most time at work with an average of 7.3 hours per day. It is therefore the sectors financial (7 hours), ICT (6.8 hours) and administration (6.5 hours) that are at the top of the list. People who work in the catering industry sit the least on average during their work, only 1.3 hours per day. They are followed by employees in the agriculture (3.2 hours) and trade (3.4 hours) sectors. In total, almost half of the Dutch working population sits more than 6 hours a day at work, and that is not counting sitting hours at home.
Since 2015, workers have been spending more and more hours sitting during working hours, a development that was given new impetus by the corona pandemic. This is worrying, because research by the Health Council shows that sitting for long periods of time carries an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. “People who sit more than 8 hours a day and exercise little have a 74 percent greater risk of cardiovascular disease than people who sit less than 4 hours a day and exercise a lot,” states the TNO report. Sitting also increases the risk of premature death and carries an increased risk of developing type II diabetes, depression and various types of cancer.
Also read
‘Sitting long and lazy is fatal’ should be on every easy chair, says this addiction doctor