Sit-stand Desks Research Articles

Are there compensatory behaviors in response to a sit-stand desk intervention?

Office workers represent one of the most sedentary groups. Alarmingly, more than a third of their sitting time during workdays occurs in prolonged bouts. Sit-stand desk (SSD) interventions have been found to be effective in reducing sitting time, but heterogeneity exists amongst studies, which may be due to compensations outside the workplace. This study aimed to assess the impact of a 6-month SSD intervention on office workers' sitting and standing times during the work shift and outside work (leisure time). A two-arm (1:1) clustered randomized controlled trial was conducted with 38 participants randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. The intervention included a psychoeducational session, motivational prompts, and environmental modification (SSD implemented in the workplace). The waiting-list control group maintained the usual work conditions and only received the initial session. We employed repeated measures ANCOVA to compare changes between groups while adjusting for relevant covariates, with significance set at 5%. In the intervention group, there was a significant reduction in sitting time at work by 32.97 min, along with a notable increase in standing time by 27.88 min (p<0.05). Although not significant (p>0.05), there was an increase in sitting time in the leisure context of about 23.07 min. This study underscores the effectiveness of SSD as a key strategy to mitigate sitting time among office workers. However, future interventions should consider integrating comprehensive behavioral strategies beyond the workplace to sustain potential increases in sitting time during the leisure time and avoid compensatory behaviors. What is already known on this topic: Sedentary behavior, particularly in the workplace, is associated with increased risks of non-communicable diseases and premature mortality. Previous studies have shown that sit-stand desk (SSD) interventions can significantly reduce sitting time at work. However, uncertainties remain about whether these effects persist outside of the workplace and if compensatory behaviors occur during leisure time. This study demonstrated that a 6-month SSD intervention resulted in a significant reduction of 32.97 minutes in sitting time during work hours and a corresponding increase in standing time. However, a non-significant increase of 23.07 minutes in sitting time during leisure was observed, suggesting potential compensatory behaviors outside of work. Additionally, the response to the intervention varied among participants, highlighting the influence of individual factors. How this study might affect research, practice, or policy: The findings emphasize the importance of extending behavioral interventions beyond the workplace to maintain sustainable reductions in sedentary behavior. To maximize health benefits, future interventions should consider personalized strategies that address sedentary behavior in the workplace and during leisure time. Moreover, the variability in individual responses suggests that more tailored interventions may be necessary to ensure widespread effectiveness.

Employee and Supervisor Perceptions of a Policy Promoting Standing in the Workplace: A Qualitative Study

Many employees have jobs that predominantly require sitting, and reducing sitting time to improve physical health has been a focus of health research. A widespread environmental design change is the incorporation of sit-stand desks. Since the workplace plays a large role in a person’s day-to-day activities, researchers and environmental designers must still assess how joint optimization can be reached to satisfy worker well-being and performance. We conducted a qualitative research study to determine how support and/or concern over a hypothetical policy to increase standing in a predominantly seated workplace would differ between those with and without job supervisory tasks. Employees saw the benefits of reducing their sitting time at work and welcomed the added autonomy. Others saw this as infringing their autonomy, uncertainty about how this would affect their tasks, if they would have appropriate equipment, and if the policy was inclusive to people with difficulty standing.

Impact of a 6-month sit-stand desk-based intervention on regional musculoskeletal discomfort and overall post-work fatigue in office workers: a cluster randomised controlled trial

Evaluate the impact of a 6-month sit-stand desk (SSD) intervention on office workers’ regional musculoskeletal discomfort (MD) and overall post-work fatigue (PWF) compared to a control group. A two-arm (1:1) clustered randomised controlled trial including 38 participants (aged 24–60 years, 77% women) assigned to intervention or control groups. The intervention, spanning 6 months, involved psychoeducation, motivational prompts, and SSD. The control group maintained standard working conditions. MD was assessed using the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, and PWF with the Need for Recovery Scale. ANCOVA was employed to compare groups, adjusting for covariates, with 5% significance. The intervention group reduced overall MD (p = 0.018) and PWF (p = 0.013), while the control group showed no changes. However, no time*group interactions were found (p > 0.05). A 6-month SSD intervention alleviated office workers’ MD and PWF, suggesting benefits from increasing standing time by at least 30 minutes/day. Future investigations must explore individual heterogeneity in response to SSD. Trial registration https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/JHGPW.

The effectiveness of a 6-month intervention with sit-stand workstation in office workers: Results from the SUFHA cluster randomized controlled trial.

Prolonged periods of sitting have been linked to negative health outcomes. Implementation of sit-stand desks in the workplace has been one strategy to reduce prolonged sitting. To assess the effectiveness of sit-stand workstations on reducing sitting time and improving other health outcomes of office-based workers. 39 Portuguese office workers were randomized into a 6-month parallel-group cluster RCT consisting by the implementation of sit-stand desks in the workplace. The primary outcome of sitting time was assessed using ActivPAL. Secondary outcomes included biometric, psychological, and diet-related variables. All outcomes were assessed at baseline and 6 months for the whole sample and at 3 months for a sub-sample of the intervention group (n = 11). No significant time*group interaction was found for the primary or secondary outcomes, apart from waist circumference favoring the control group (Δ-1.81 cm, pinteraction = 0.04). There were significant changes within the intervention group for sitting time (-44.0 min/day), prolonged sitting (>30 min) (-45.3 min/day) and standing time (51.7 min/day) at 3 months in the sub-sample and in prolonged sitting (>30 min) (-26 min/day) in the full intervention group (p < 0.05). Changes were also observed within the intervention group for percent body fat (Δ-3.7%) and ratings of quality of life (Δ2.2), musculoskeletal discomfort (Δ-4.9), overall fatigue (Δ-2.2), and the need for recovery after work (Δ-1.7) at 6-month follow-up (p < 0.05). Although not being effective for reducing sitting time, the implementation of sit-stand desks in the Portuguese workspace was shown to be feasible over the long term, received well by users, and may offer other health benefits. OSF Registration, OSF.IO/JHGPW. Registered 15 November 2022. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/JHGPW.

Yonder: Sit-stand desks, gallstones, student interest in general practice, and family healthcare patterns.

Yonder: Sit-stand desks, gallstones, student interest in general practice, and family healthcare patterns.

Effects of Sedentary Behavior Reduction on Blood Pressure in Desk Workers: Results From the RESET-BP Randomized Clinical Trial.

Sedentary behavior (SB) is observationally associated with cardiovascular disease risk. However, randomized clinical trials testing causation are limited. We hypothesized that reducing SB would decrease blood pressure (BP) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) in sedentary adults. This parallel-arm, 3-month randomized clinical trial recruited desk workers, age 18 to 65 years, with systolic BP 120 to 159 or diastolic BP (DBP) 80 to 99 mm Hg, off antihypertensive medications, and reporting <150 min/wk of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity. Participants were randomized to a SB reduction intervention or a no-contact control group. The intervention sought to replace 2 to 4 h/d of SB with standing and stepping through coaching, a wrist-worn activity prompter, and a sit-stand desk. SB and physical activity were measured with a thigh-worn accelerometer and quantified during all waking hours and separately during work and nonwork times. Clinic-based resting systolic BP (primary outcome) and DBP, 24-hour ambulatory BP, and PWV were assessed by blinded technicians at baseline and 3 months. Participants (n=271) had a mean age of 45 years and systolic BP/DBP 129/83 mm Hg. Compared with controls, intervention participants had reduced SB (-1.15±0.17 h/d), increased standing (0.94±0.14 h/d), and increased stepping (5.4±2.4 min/d; all P<0.05). SB and activity changes mainly occurred during work time and were below the goal. The intervention did not reduce BP or PWV in the intervention group compared with controls. Between-group differences in resting systolic BP and DBP changes were -0.22±0.90 (P=0.808) and 0.13±0.61 mm Hg (P=0.827), respectively. The findings were similarly null for ambulatory BP and PWV. Decreases in work-time SB were associated with favorable reductions in resting DBP (r=0.15, P=0.017). Contrary to our hypotheses, reductions in work-time SB (r=-0.19, P=0.006) and increases in work-time standing (r=0.17, P=0.011) were associated with unfavorable increases in carotid-femoral PWV. As expected, increases in non-work-time standing were favorably associated with carotid-femoral PWV (r=-0.14, P=0.038). A 3-month intervention that decreased SB and increased standing by ≈1 hour during the work day was not effective for reducing BP. Future directions include examining effects of interventions reducing SB through activity other than work-time standing and clarifying association between standing and PWV in opposite directions for work and nonwork time. URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT03307343.

Boosting arousal and cognitive performance through alternating posture: Insights from a multi-method laboratory study.

This study investigated the role of arousal and effort costs in the cognitive benefits of alternating between sitting and standing postures using a sit-stand desk, while measuring executive functions, self-reports, physiology, and neural activity in a 2-h laboratory session aimed to induce mental fatigue. Two sessions were conducted with a one-week gap, during which participants alternated between sitting and standing postures each 20-min block in one session and remained seated in the other. In each block, inhibition, switching, and updating were assessed. We examined effects of time-on-task, acute (local) effects of standing versus sitting posture, and cumulative (global) effects of a standing posture that generalize to the subsequent block in which participants sit. Results (N = 43) confirmed that time-on-task increased mental fatigue and decreased arousal. Standing (versus sitting) led to acute increases in arousal levels, including self-reports, alpha oscillations, and cardiac responses. Standing also decreased physiological and perceived effort costs. Standing enhanced processing speed in the flanker task, attributable to shortened nondecision time and speeded evidence accumulation processes. No significant effects were observed on higher-level executive functions. Alternating postures also increased heart rate variability cumulatively over time. Exploratory mediation analyses indicated that the positive impact of acute posture on enhanced drift rate was mediated by self-reported arousal, whereas decreased nondecision time was mediated by reductions in alpha power. In conclusion, alternating between sitting and standing postures can enhance arousal, decrease effort costs, and improve specific cognitive and physiological outcomes.

“Some People Sit, Some People Stand, That’s Just What We Do”: a Qualitative Exploration of Sit-Stand Desk Use in Naturalistic Settings

Prolonged sedentary behaviour is associated with poor health. Office-based workers spend much of the working day sitting. Sit-stand desks have become a popular intervention, but real-life experiences of the value of sit-stand desks remain relatively unexplored outside of research-led interventions. A qualitative study was therefore undertaken to explore real-life experiences, including perceived barriers, and facilitators of using sit-stand desks. Six focus-group interviews were undertaken with a total of 34 desk-based employees in North-West England. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Three main themes emerged: The Sedentary Office, Motivators, and The Active Office. The Sedentary Office highlighted participants’ frustration with an increasingly sedentary office environment. Motivators to reducing sitting time were knowledge of the health consequences of prolonged sitting, previous (ill) health, and the potential benefits expected. The Active Office highlighted the importance of control, choice, enhanced interaction with colleagues, and the benefits associated with moving more and enhancing an overall sense of workplace wellbeing. Perceived benefits, facilitators, and barriers - experienced and observed – from sit-stand desk use in the real world were examined, thus contributing to important discussions of transferability. Overall, the study shed light on the perceived facilitators, benefits, and drawbacks of sit-stand desk work whilst also giving evidence of the real-world acceptability and research translation of sit-stand desk use. Future research should examine this in multiple contexts and should explore implications of an increasing prevalence in home working.

Quantifying the impacts of posture changes on office worker productivity: an exploratory study using effective computer interactions as a real-time indicator

BackgroundWorking in a standing posture is considered to improve musculoskeletal comfort and can help enhance office workers’ performance in the long term. However, there is a lack of a quantitative, real-time measure that reflects on whether office workers can immediately become more concentrated and work more efficiently when they switch to a standing posture.MethodsTo tackle this problem, this study proposed that the number of effective computer interactions could be used as a real-time indicator to measure the productivity of office workers whose work is primarily computer-based. Using this metric, we conducted an exploratory study to investigate the correlation between posture and productivity changes at a 10-minute resolution for eight participants.ResultsThe study found that when allowed to use sit-stand desks to adjust postures, participants chose to switch to standing posture for about 47 min on average once a day; standing work was most frequent between 2:30 − 4:00 pm, followed by 10:30 − 11:30 am, during which time the number of computer interactions also became higher, showing a significant positive correlation. In addition, participants were approximately 6.5% more productive than when they could only work in a sitting posture.ConclusionThis study revealed that posture changes could have an immediate improvement in productivity.

Usability of an Intelligent Sit-Stand Desk in Office Teleworkers

Office work often results in long bouts of time spent sitting without moving, accumulating prolonged static posture (PSP), which might cause musculoskeletal discomfort (MSD). Although sit-stand desks (SSD) allow posture changes, employees do not use them sustainably. In order to automate posture adjustments, an intelligent SSD with an interactive system (iSSD) was created. This study assessed the impact of the iSSD on postural hygiene and explored the user experience. Ten office employees working remotely from home (teleworkers) used the iSSD with (phase B) and without (phase A2) automation. The usage data of the iSSD was measured daily by sensors. We assessed MSDs and working conditions through questionnaires. Semi-structured interviews evaluated participants’ satisfaction. Results showed a 29% decrease in sitting time and absent PSP for phase B. Subsequently, in phase A2, the sitting time returned close to baseline values. Questionnaires reported MSD alleviation and stability of working conditions. Interviews confirmed automation’s benefits for maintaining postural hygiene. Findings suggest that an interactive system can facilitate SSD adoption and promote postural hygiene at the office. HIGHLIGHTS We added an interactive system to a usual sit-stand desk to force posture change. We tested iSSD usability by teleworkers through data tracked by the system sensors. We conducted qualitative interviews to assess participants’ satisfaction with iSSD. Using an iSSD could help office workers reduce prolonged static postures. Participants appreciated automated posture changes imposed by the interactive system.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of sedentary behaviour interventions in offices to reduce sitting time in Australian desk-based workers: A modelling study.

Sedentary behaviour (SB) is associated with increased incidence of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease, cancers, and premature mortality. SB interventions in workplaces are effective in reducing sitting time. Previous economic evaluations have not specifically used changes in sitting time to estimate the long-term impact of SB on chronic disease-related health and cost outcomes. This research evaluated the cost-effectiveness of three hypothetical SB interventions: behavioural (BI), environmental (EI) and multi-component intervention (MI), implemented in the Australian context, using a newly developed epidemiological model that estimates the impact of SB as a risk factor on long-term population health and associated cost outcomes. Pathway analysis was used to identify the resource items associated with implementing each of the three interventions using a limited societal perspective (included costs: health sector, individuals and industry; excluded costs: productivity). The effectiveness of the modelled interventions in reducing daily sitting time (informed by published meta-analyses) was modelled for the Australian working population aged 20-65 years. A multi-cohort Markov model was developed to simulate the 2019 Australian population and estimate the incidence, prevalence and mortality of five diseases causally related to excessive sitting time, over the life course. Monte-Carlo simulations were used to calculate each intervention's mean incremental costs and benefits (quantified as health adjusted life years HALYs) compared to a do-nothing comparator. When implemented at the national level, the interventions were estimated to reach 1,018 organisations with 1,619,239 employees. The estimated incremental cost of SB interventions was A$159M (BI), A$688M (EI) and A$438M (MI) over a year. Incremental health-adjusted life years (HALYs) gained by BI, EI and MI were 604, 919 and 349, respectively. The mean ICER for BI was A$251,863 per HALY gained, A$737,307 for EI and A$1,250,426 for MI. Only BI had any probability (2%) of being cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of A$50,000 per HALY gained from a societal perspective. SB interventions are not cost-effective when a reduction in sitting time is the outcome measure of interest. The cost-effectiveness results are heavily driven by the cost of the sit-stand desks and the small HALYs gained from reducing sitting time. Future research should focus on capturing non-health-benefits of these interventions, such as productivity, work satisfaction, and other health benefits: metabolic, physical, and musculoskeletal outcomes. Importantly, the health benefits of simultaneously reducing sitting time and increasing standing time for such interventions should be captured with the joint effects of these risk factors appropriately considered.

Providing office workers with height-adjustable workstation to reduce and interrupt workplace sitting time: protocol for the Stand Up for Healthy Aging (SUFHA) cluster randomized controlled trial

BackgroundSedentary behavior (SB) has been linked to several negative health outcomes. Therefore, reducing SB or breaking up prolonged periods of SB improves functional fitness, food consumption, job satisfaction, and productivity. Reducing SB can be achieved by introducing a health-enhancing contextual modification promoted by a sit-stand desk in the workplace. The primary goal will be to test the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing and breaking up SB, while improving health outcomes in office-based workers during a 6-month intervention.MethodsA two-arm (1:1), superiority parallel-group cluster RCT will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in a sample of office-based workers from a university in Portugal. The intervention will consist of a psychoeducation session, motivational prompts, and contextual modification promoted by a sit-stand desk in the workplace for 6 months. The control group will work as usual in their workplace, with no contextual change or prompts during the 6-month intervention. Three assessment points will be conducted in both groups, pre-intervention (baseline), post-intervention, and a 3-month follow-up. The primary outcomes include sedentary and physical activity-related variables, which will be objectively assessed with 24 h monitoring using the ActivPAL for 7 days. The secondary outcomes include (a) biometric indices as body composition, body mass index, waist circumference, and postural inequalities; and (b) psychosocial variables such as overall and work-related fatigue, overall discomfort, life/work satisfaction, quality of life, and eating behavior. Both the primary and secondary outcomes will be assessed at each assessment point.DiscussionThis study will lean on the use of a sit-stand workstation for 6 months, prompted by an initial psychoeducational session and ongoing motivational prompts. We will aim to contribute to this topic by providing robust data on alternating sitting and standing postures in the workplace.Trial registrationThe trial was prospectively registered, and the details are at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/JHGPW; Registered 15 November 2022. OSF Preregistration.

Task type, preference, and occupation affect standing desk utilization in office workers.

Adjustable height sit-stand desks are becoming the norm in many workplaces. It is not known how task type, worker preference, and occupation impact utilization of the adjustable height feature. This survey-based study aimed to determine how task type, preference and occupation affect office workers' sitting and standing behaviors at work. Office workers (n = 123) from different occupations completed surveys about actual and preferred positions (sit, stand, either/both) during 39 common tasks from 4 different categories, as well as barriers to use. Each position was analyzed by task type, behavior, and occupation. There were differences between actual and preferred behavior for each position, with participants sitting more and standing less than preferred across all task categories. There were differences between task categories with participants sitting less for generative and routine, and standing more for communication tasks. The highest rates of either/both responses were for routine tasks. Engineers reported the lowest standing rates, and also indicated standing more than preferred. Information Tech and Engineering had the highest either/both responses. Finance reported the highest sitting rates. Personal, task-based and workplace limitations were cited as barriers to preferred use. Office workers would prefer to stand more at work. Occupation-specific needs and preferences, as well as types of tasks should be considered when providing workplace standing options.

Shared Autonomy to Reduce Sedentary Behavior Among Sit-Stand Desk Users in the United States and India: Web-Based Study.

Fitness technologies such as wearables and sit-stand desks are increasingly being used to fight sedentary lifestyles by encouraging physical activity. However, adherence to such technologies decreases over time because of apathy and increased dismissal of behavioral nudges. To address this problem, we introduced shared autonomy in the context of sit-stand desks, where user input is integrated with robot autonomy to control the desk and reduce sedentary behavior and investigated user reactions and preferences for levels of automation with a sit-stand desk. As demographics affect user acceptance of robotic technology, we also studied how perceptions of nonvolitional behavior change differ across cultures (United States and India), sex, familiarity, dispositional factors, and health priming messages. We conducted a web-based vignette study in the United States and India where a total of 279 participants watched video vignettes of a person interacting with sit-stand desks of various levels of automation and answered questions about their perceptions of the desks such as ranking of the different levels of automation. Participants generally preferred either manual or semiautonomous desks over the fully autonomous option (P<.001). However, participants in India were generally more amenable to the idea of nonvolitional interventions from the desk than participants in the United States (P<.001). Male participants had a stronger desire for having control over the desk than female participants (P=.01). Participants who were more familiar with sit-stand desks were more likely to adopt autonomous sit-stand desks (P=.001). No effects of health priming messages were observed. We estimated the projected health outcome by combining ranking data and hazard ratios from previous work and found that the semiautonomous desk led to the highest projected health outcome. These results suggest that the shared autonomy desk is the optimal level of automation in terms of both user preferences and estimated projected health outcomes. Demographics such as culture and sex had significant effects on how receptive users were to autonomous intervention. As familiarity improves the likelihood of adoption, we propose a gradual behavior change intervention to increase acceptance and adherence, especially for populations with a high desire for control.

Longitudinal Effects of a sit-stand desk intervention - persistence, Fade-Out, and psychological momentum: a Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundThis study examined whether the effects of a sit-stand desk (SSD) intervention on employees’ musculoskeletal complaints (i.e., intensity and prevalence) and activation (i.e., vigilance and vitality) persist or fade out and whether velocity and acceleration of health improvements can predict medium-term (six-month) and long-term (24-month) improvements. Drawing from dynamic models of self-regulation, as well as the psychological momentum theory, we hypothesized that velocity and acceleration of health improvements in the early stages of the intervention would predict medium-term health improvements, which sustain long-term.MethodsWe used data from a six-month seven-wave randomized controlled trial with employees in mostly sedentary occupations and supplemented this by follow-up data from the same participants 18 months later, resulting in eight waves.ResultsBayesian structural equational modeling revealed no significant intervention effect after 24 months implying a fade-out. But more importantly, velocity and, partially, acceleration of health improvements at earlier stages predicted medium-term improvements in musculoskeletal complaints and long-term improvements in vigilance.ConclusionThe findings of this study suggest that positive intervention effects fade out over time and health effects benefit from prompt progresses at the beginning of the intervention, warranting exploration in prolonged longitudinal studies.

Effects of a blended classroom-based intervention on aerobic fitness, motor skills, inhibition, and daytime sleepiness among Hong Kong children.

In response to the all-round development of primary school children, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a blended intervention program on children's health-related outcomes of aerobic fitness, motor skills, inhibition and daytime sleepiness in classroom settings. Three experimental conditions include: (1) the “Stand + Move” group combining sit-stand desks and physical activity (PA) recess, (2) “Move” group with PA recess only, and (3) Control group (CG; normal class schedule). A total of 64 primary school children (37.5% girls and 62.5% boys, M [SD] = 9.6 [0.61], BMI mean = 17.0 ± 3.0) participated in all assessments, including aerobic fitness, motor skills, inhibitory control, and daytime sleepiness. The baseline data collection starts from January 2019, with the intervention lasting for 13 weeks and followed by post-intervention and follow up tests conducted in July and October 2019. There was a significant interaction effect on aerobic fitness [F(2,76) = 10.62, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.22] after the intervention period, whereas no significant interaction was observed for other variables. Significant main effects were observed in aerobic fitness (pre – post: −11.75 and −7.22) for both experimental groups, with the blended group showing greater improvements immediately post the test, while motor skills only showed a significant increase at the three-month follow-up, with the greatest increase in the blended group (pre-follow-up: −2.50). For inhibition control and daytime sleepiness, better improvements were shown for the experimental groups than for the control group. The blended designed intervention, by incorporating multiple components as an innovative strategy to reconstruct children's traditional classroom environment in Hong Kong, has demonstrated improved physical and psychological development of school children.Clinical trial registrationChiCTR, ChiCTR2000035038. Registered 29 July 2020 – Retrospectively registered. http://www.chictr.org.cn/hvshowproject.aspx?id=46038.

Examination Of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors And Objective Physical Activity At A South African Company

PURPOSE: Ukumela impilo is a randomized controlled trial (PACTR201911656014962) investigating the effectiveness of adjustable sit-stand desks (environmental change) on sedentary behaviour and cardiovascular disease risk factors in South African office workers. The target sample (n = 120) will be randomized equally into control and experimental groups. Early baseline findings to understand anthropometric and cardiometabolic factors will be reported. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. Participants were full-time employed office workers of a credit and information management company in South Africa. Standard protocols were followed for the collection of simple body composition, point-of-care non-fasting glucose, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1C) and lipid profile. Wrist-worn accelerometer data were collected on 7 days of wear time, measuring sleep and physical activity. RESULTS: We have recruited 37 participants with accelerometer data thus far, 65% (n = 24) are female. The mean BMI was 27.7 ± 6.6 kg/m2 while 29.7% (n = 11) were obese. The majority (73%) had elevated blood pressures (BP) (systolic BP ≥130 and/or diastolic BP ≥80 mmHg), while 13.5% (n = 5) participants had HbA1C levels ≥6.5%. The mean total cholesterol levels were 4.03 ± 0.82 mmol/L-1and only 10.8% (n = 4) had cardioprotective HDL levels ≥1.55 mmol/L-1. The participants spent 13.4 ± 21.7 minutes/day in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and slept for 7 ± 1.3 hours/night. Univariate analysis showed that MVPA was inversely correlated with total cholesterol (r = -0.33, p = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results show obvious concerns around cardiovascular disease risk factors in office workers that can benefit from physical activity. Future investigation seeks to understand their sedentary behaviour patterns and examine the effectiveness of environmental changes to interrupt extended sitting time during work hours.

Sit-Stand Desks and Physical Self-care Behaviors in a Family Medicine Residency.

More than 50% of primary care physicians' practice involves sedentary desk work. Growing evidence suggests a link between sedentary workplace behaviors and increased morbidity and mortality. Research on the effects of sit-stand desks in the workplace suggests that sit-stand desks reduce sedentary behaviors. This study examined the use and satisfaction of adjustable desks with a height of sit-stand and their association with physical self-care behaviors among family medicine residents. We conducted a longitudinal cohort survey study at a 9-9-9 family medicine residency after the clinic installed height-adjustable sit-stand desks in January 2020. Standardized questions about the use and satisfaction of adjustable sit-stand desks and physical self-care behaviors were administered in June 2020, December 2020, and December 2021. The survey also included an open text box for feedback. Median time spent standing at the sit-stand desks was 55.0%. The percentage of time standing was similar across June 2020, December 2020, and December 2021. The average satisfaction rate with the desks across all time points was 71.4%. We did not observe significant differences in the proportion of residents' satisfaction with the adjustable desks over time. Residents who reported standing at the adjustable desk reported increased satisfaction with the desks (Kendall's τ=.38, P<.001) and with physical self-care behaviors (Kendall's τ=.25, P<.05). Themes associated with desk dissatisfaction revolved around limited desktop space. Over a nearly 1.5-year period, more than half of family medicine residents reported standing at their adjustable desks and being satisfied with them. Residents who reported standing at adjustable desks also reported increased physical self-care behaviors. Residency programs investing in sit-stand desks may consider options that allow for increased desktop surface space.

"If money was no object": A qualitative study of South African university office workers' perceptions of using height-adjustable sit-stand desks.

Data from empirical investigations on the feasibility and acceptability of using sit-stand desks in an office-based setting in low- and middle-income settings are limited. To explore the perceptions of South African office workers towards using height-adjustable sit-stand desks to reduce sitting time during vocational hours. Self-reported sedentary behaviour and in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted in December 2020. Thematic content analysis approach was used to develop themes. Eleven office workers with a work-time sitting time of 8 (6-8) hours were interviewed (age 40.5 ± 12.6 years), most (91%) were female. The main themes emerged and included: overall impressions of the height-adjustable sit-stand desks; enablers versus barriers to using the desk and readiness to continue using sit-stand desks. The findings of this research add to the evidence on environmental workstation modifications for reducing sedentary behaviour. Further investigations on the efficacy of sit-stand desks are recommended in South African university office workers.

Evaluating a multi-component intervention to reduce and break up office workers\u2019 sitting with sit-stand desks using the APEASE criteria

ObjectiveSedentary workplace interventions have had success in reducing excessive sitting time in office workers, but barriers to implementation and uptake remain. This study formally assessed a theory-derived, sit-stand desk intervention using the APEASE (Acceptability, Practicability, Effectiveness, Affordability, Side-effects, Equity) criteria. MethodsThirteen adults (eight female, mean age 38 ± 10 years) from the treatment arm of a sedentary behaviour intervention participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic codes were inductively assigned to data items followed by deductive charting using the APEASE criteria. ResultsThe intervention was highly acceptable, practicable, safe to deploy, and helped workers reduce workplace sitting time, though individual preferences and workload mediated engagement. Affordability of sit-stand desks and Equity of access were potential barriers to uptake.Conclusions Through the lens of the APEASE criteria, this theory-derived, multi-component sit-stand desk intervention showed acceptability, practicability and effectiveness in reducing and breaking up sedentary time at work with minimal side effects. Using this approach with further tailoring and personalisation may help workers achieve greater reductions in workplace sitting, though affordability and equity should be considered further.