Goldilocks Work description

The Goldilocks Work approach is

• about getting health and fitness benefits while doing productive work,
• about creating a ‘just right’ balance between load and recovery.

The Goldilocks Work approach is not

• only about preventing work-related injuries and disease,
• the same as the ‘minimise occupational activity’ paradigm of making jobs safer by reducing physical loads,
• the same as the ‘workplace exercise’ paradigm of improving health by exercise before, after or between performing productive work,
• about minimising sitting or maximising moderate-to-vigorous activity at work,
• about replacing all sitting with standing.

The Goldilocks Work idea of a ‘just right’ balance

• Too much/too frequent/too prolonged physical load at work can lead to ill health and loss of capacity.
• Too little/ too infrequent/too brief physical stress at work can lead to ill health and loss of capacity.
• Combinations of too much and/or little load in unfavourable temporal patterns can lead to ill health and loss of capacity.
• A ‘Just right’ balance ensuring beneficial effects on health and capacity is obtained when physical loads are sufficient to stimulate cardiometabolic and/or neuromusculoskeletal responses and opportunities for recovery are adequate.
• ‘Just right’ needs to incorporate the intensity, duration, type, frequency and temporal pattern of loads.