The phrase “sitting is the new smoking” is a popular health slogan that highlights the serious health risks of prolonged sedentary behavior (especially sitting for extended periods), comparing them to the well-established dangers of smoking cigarettes. It emphasizes how modern lifestyles – desk jobs, screen time, commuting – lead to excessive sitting, which is linked to increased risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, metabolic issues, and even premature death, independent of regular exercise.

The phrase is widely attributed to Dr. James A. Levine, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine formerly at the Mayo Clinic (now associated with initiatives like the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions). He is credited with coining or popularizing it in the early 2010s as part of his research on non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) and the metabolic impacts of sedentary time.

A key early mention appeared in a 2014 Los Angeles Times article titled “‘Get Up!’ or lose hours of your life every day, scientist says,” where Levine is quoted saying things like: “Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.” This tied into his book Get Up!: Why Your Chair Is Killing You and What You Can Do About It (published around that time).

And perhaps concerns about the health hazards of excessive sitting influenced researchers to conduct a new study, published ahead of print in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Researchers decided to explore how workplace design influences office workers’ sitting behaviors, which are linked to health risks like cardiovascular disease and reduced productivity. The research draws on affordance theory and ecological models, emphasizing that environments can “invite” sitting or standing.

Cluster analysis identified 7 office types. Workers stood longer in large shared offices with trash cans out of reach and few decorations. They stood shorter in small shared offices with screens/boards,but this was explained by lower worktime control in those offices.

Individual features were studied. Longer standing took place in offices with two workstations compared to one, or additional chairs. Shorter sitting (quicker stand-ups) with trash cans or waste paper bins within arm’s reach, and small under-desk cabinets.

The study concluded that workplace design is associated with sitting patterns to some extent, but primarily indirectly – through the work tasks, goals, and collegial interactions it affords (e.g., focused desk work in offices promotes sitting; interactions in shared spaces encourage standing). Key principles: (1) Office designs as wholes may impact sitting differently than isolated features (per Gestalt theory); (2) Design influences sitting via enabled behaviors, not just physical cues.

To reduce prolonged sitting (~70-80% of work time), designs should promote task variety and interactions (e.g., shared offices, out-of-reach bins to encourage movement). However, work characteristics like time control may be more influential than design alone. This supports holistic interventions combining environmental changes with behavioral strategies.