Healthy eating and physical activity are essential for good performance. But few companies encourage their employees to do so. In addition, 56% of Brazilians spend most of their working hours sitting down.
More than half of Brazilians work most of the day sitting down. This is one of the conclusions of a survey carried out by Alelo, the Brazilian benefit card company, using the online platform of the Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (Ibope). In Brasilia, the percentage jumps to around two-thirds of workers (66%), according to the second edition of the Brazilian worker's eating habits survey. The study also reveals that 58% of those interviewed throughout Brazil say they do not receive incentives to eat healthily from the company where they work. For physical activities, the lack of incentive is greater: 65%.
3,059 people living in 12 state capitals and 54 other cities were interviewed. The average age of those interviewed was 38. Performance improves if workers eat well and exercise, because they feel more energized to work. It's a biological and quality of life issue, says André Turquetto, Marketing and Products Director at Alelo. In periods of crisis, such as the one Brazil is facing, Turquetto points out that people become more worried and the rate of depression is higher, which affects the way they eat, move and rest. The consequence of the stress of the moment and neglecting the body is a drop in productivity.
The body complains
Due to sitting for long periods of time, secretarial technician Miucha Dantas, 29, suffers from various body pains, especially in her lower back. I take five painkillers a day, three to control the pain I feel and two to prevent others from appearing," she says. She works as an outsourced worker for a public agency that doesn't offer incentives for healthy eating or physical activity. Miucha considers her own habits to be bad. The lack of exercise really gets in the way, even the doctor prescribed it, but I can't do it at the moment due to lack of money. At work, the demands on her concentration mean that Miucha occasionally doesn't get up from her chair even once a day during the six-hour working day.
Human beings were not made to sit for long periods of time: those who spend long periods in this position increase the number of illnesses and work worse, says doctor Ícaro Alves Alcântara, who specializes in orthomolecular strategy, a branch focused on quality of life. According to him, excessive time in a chair affects blood circulation. The consequences are numbness, pain, memory problems, tiredness, discouragement, depression, anxiety and difficulty dealing with stressful situations.
Despite the many harmful effects of sitting for too long, workers find it difficult to get out of inertia and start moving their bodies more. To alleviate the effects, doctor Ícaro Alcântara recommends simple actions that can help. Taking a walk, but not just to the coffee machine, asking the company to use ergonomic chairs and tables, and not skipping meals or over- or under-eating are essential steps. The doctor also points out that even those who exercise regularly and eat well feel the effects of sitting too much. However, people with good lifestyle habits resist injuries better and recover more quickly.
Brazilian context
Brasília has an above-average sedentary lifestyle, but it is one of the places where companies most encourage movement and healthy eating, observes André Turquetto, from Alelo. Around 50% of Brasilians say they receive some kind of incentive for physical activity. Campaigns, distribution of baskets with suitable products, collective breakfasts, space for physical activities in the company, discounts at gyms or healthy food restaurants are some of the ways of encouraging suitable habits among employees.
Two months after attendant Gisele Gomes, 28, started working at the Asa Gaúcha restaurant in Asa Norte, the company started offering gymnastics to its employees. We arrive with aches and pains and, after doing the exercise, our performance improves by 100%!” says Gomes, who has been in the job for six months. Gymnastics is a form of prevention. We saw that it was the most appropriate modality, says Alana Honneff Werlang, the restaurant's human resources manager. The initiative benefits the restaurant's 35 employees, who spend a lot of time on their feet.
The classes last about 15 minutes and are offered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. After they started taking part in the activity, we noticed an improvement in their mood. The bond with the company has also been affected, and sick leave and turnover have decreased, she says. As well as exercise, employees have access to healthy food options at work, a monthly food basket and one extra day off a month.
Word from an expert
Health and performance
A worker's productivity and lifestyle are directly linked. People who exercise release hormones that make them feel good and, as a result, they are in a better mood. For a sedentary person, any movement can cause pain: it's difficult to even open a drawer or pick up a box. It's the same with food: people who eat better work better and bring more back to the company.
However, few organizations encourage employees to take better care of their health. When this concern does exist, it is usually in large institutions. The reality is that this is still not on the agenda of many companies, there is no substantial incentive for employees to take care of their own health.
If there was more encouragement in this direction, the business could grow more, because employees would be healthy and happy. However, any employee can make this suggestion to the company and it won't always be acknowledged, as there is a view that the biggest beneficiaries will be themselves and their colleagues, but they may be grateful. At the end of the day, the truth is that the initiative to pursue healthy habits must come from the individual and not from the company.
Acsa Vasconcellos, psychologist and partner at human resources consultancy Insight
A global problem
Researchers from the University of Leicester in England published a study in 2012 on the consequences of spending long hours sitting down. They analyzed data from 18 surveys on the subject, involving 794,000 people. The conclusion was that human beings spend between 50% and 70% of their lives sitting down. It was also revealed that those who spend more than half their lives sitting are 112% more likely to have diabetes, the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease increases to 147%, and the risk of dying prematurely is 49% higher.
Another study, published in October 2015, shows that sitting for hours can cause liver problems. The health records of 140,000 South Koreans were analyzed over two years and showed that 40,000 of them, who spent long periods sitting, developed fatty liver. The condition can also develop into other diseases, such as cirrhosis and cancer. The publication was published in the Journal of Hepatology, which publishes research and findings on hepatology.
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