Today, however, a photocopying machine collates, staples and bundles documents in minutes, and the manager himself can type letters and email them to colleagues, saving his secretary all those steps.
The physical drudgery has been taken out of most people’s lives, and more people are spending more time stuck at their desks.
Along with eating large portions and using the TV remote control, the work place has become another cause of us gaining weight. More and more studies are concluding that poor diet and lack of exercise could soon surpass tobacco as the leading preventable cause of premature death.
The economy has become dominated by sedentary office work. Technology allows – even requires – workers to remain in a chair all day staring at a screen. Ever pressed for time, workers seem constantly to be eating junk food on the run or at their desks. Improved technology – from conference calling to instant messaging to internet-cams – makes communication ever more possible without leaving one’s seat.
The result: Gaining weight has become the latest occupational hazard.
On average, we expend about 200 to 300 fewer calories a day than they did 25 years ago – or about 7,000 fewer calories a month. The change years ago from manual typewriters to computers, by one estimate, caused the average full-time secretary to gain three to five kilos a year.
Just sitting at you desk all the time results in a huge decrease in your metabolism.
Stress from work, many experts say, is also greater, fuelled by such things as the push for greater productivity and the threat of outsourcing and downsizing. Stress lowers metabolism, making it tougher to burn calories. And mobile phones and email at home and on the road can make work seem omnipresent.
The workforce has become more and more sedentary every single year as technology advances.
Between the phone and the computer, we have all become more chair-bound.
The work-weight connection is not merely about lack of activity. Many workers are spending more time at the office. A recent survey of more than 17,500 people concluded that 46 per cent work about 40 to 50 hours per week and 25 per cent said they work 50 hours or more.
We certainly have more stressed lives, longer work hours for many of us, and less opportunity for being physically active.
Moreover, with a preponderance of both sexes working outside the home, people turn more to prepared foods from groceries or restaurants. Carry-out foods in general contain more fat and sugar than home-cooked meals, and often come in larger portions.
The office itself is laden with opportunities for eating, from birthday cakes to going-away celebrations.
A desk can even become a psychological cue for food cravings – like popcorn at the movies. While businesses frequently request healthier foods in their vending machines, those snacks often cost more and don’t sell as well as the cheaper, more fattening items.
Office workers also consume a lot of sweets and soft drinks.
Some work places are trying to become part of the solution. Offices, factories – even sawmills – are hosting aerobics workouts or contracting with groups like Weight Watchers to conduct weight-loss classes.
There are also ways to motivate workers to walk, even if it means taking a bathroom break on another floor to squeeze in some extra steps.