What do the terms “sedentary”, “light”, “medium”, and “heavy” mean when referring to work?
These are Social Security disability listings and are based on the four levels of ability to work. They are as follows: • Sedentary refers to work that requires mainly sitting but requires basically no physical labor; • Light refers to work slightly more exerting than sedentary; • Medium refers to work that requires sitting, standing, and moderate lifting; • Heavy to very heavy refers to work that requires any and all types of physical work.
