Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Saturday, July 29, 2006
UW-L study finds most jobs don’t provide enough exercise
 Mail carrier Boyce Puryear sorts mail as he walks his route on tyler St on the city Southside . Dick Riniker photo |
Perhaps the postal service motto should be: “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from ... their daily workout.”
Mail carriers, not surprisingly, topped the list of occupations that log a lot of steps in the course of their work, according to a recent University of Wisconsin-La Crosse study.
The study showed restaurant servers and custodians also get plenty of exercise during their shifts.
But while they might be working hard, police officers and lawyers aren’t getting a workout physically while on the job, according to the study.
Reem Ekhwan, a UW-L graduate student in clinical exercise physiology, recruited 10 people each from 10 different occupations to measure physical activity for three consecutive days.
Past research has shown people wearing a pedometer and recording 10,000 steps a day meet the U.S. Surgeon General’s recommendations for daily physical activity and health benefits.
But in only three of the occupations Ekhwan monitored did the person meet that 10,000-step goal while working.
The mail carriers definitely take a few extra steps in their work — 1,906 steps per hour, adding up to about 15,251 steps in an eight-hour day, 5,251 more than the target amount. Restaurant servers averaged 1,772 steps an hour, or 14,175 steps a day. Custodians were a close third, with 1,624 steps an hour, or 12,991 steps a day.
Secretaries had the least amount of physical activity in the study, logging only 538 steps an hour, or 4,300 in an eight-hour day. Teachers, lawyers, police officers, nurses, factory workers and construction workers all averaged fewer than 10,000 steps a day in their jobs.
“It is obvious that professionals such as secretaries, teachers, lawyers and police officers must make a concerted effort to get more physical activity outside of their place of employment if they want to reach the 10,000-step threshold,” Ekhwan said.
John Porcari, director of UW-L’s Exercise and Health Program and the study’s supervisor, said he was amazed at the range of physical activity in people’s jobs.
“This study shows, as we expect, that most of us get very little physical activity in our jobs,” Porcari said. “People just need to realize if they have a sedentary job, they need to supplement with additional physical activity.
“The results make sense,” he said. “Mail carriers walk a lot, and there are not many beat cops walking the streets anymore.”
Even though secretaries and teachers were at the bottom of the physical activity level, Porcari said he was surprised they walked almost two miles a day. “All they need to do is add another two miles to their daily routine to get the 10,000 steps,” he said.
The study by UW-L’s Exercise and Health Program was commissioned by the American Council on Exercise and appears in the council’s most recent journal.
Ekhwan said studies have shown regular physical activity in the workplace can reduce the risk of certain chronic diseases, including high blood pressure, stroke, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer and osteoporosis, as well as to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
One study showed men with sedentary jobs had heart disease death rates one-third higher than those with more active jobs, she said.
Another study of physical activity levels in an Amish farming community showed the men averaged 18,425 steps a day and the women average 14,196 steps a day, Ekhwan said. The high physical activity levels may contribute to the low prevalence of obesity in Amish, she added.
Porcari said the average person accumulates 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day. The goal is to increase that number by about 20 percent per month and eventually achieve 10,000 steps per day, he said.
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.
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