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 Researchers who studied 146 National Health Services employees found
that after a year of using sit-stand desks, in combination with a
coaching program, workers' sitting time was cut by more than an hour
a day. Furthermore, sit-stand desk users had improvements in job
performance, job engagement and recovery from occupational fatigue.
"Simply replacing some sitting time each day with standing may be
beneficial in lots of different ways for health and may be cost
saving for the employer," Dr. Charlotte Edwardson, the study's lead
author, told Reuters Health in an email.
Sitting all day at a "desk job" has been linked with health problems
such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and earlier death, the
authors wrote in the BMJ.
For the study, they randomly assigned 77 people to participate in
the so-called SMArT Work intervention, in which workers receive a
height adjustable workstation, along with instructions for using it,
a goal-setting booklet, a self-monitoring and prompt tool, and
coaching sessions. The remaining 69 volunteers continued to work at
traditional nonadjustable workstations.
Sitting time was measured using a device worn on the thigh at the
start of the study and again after three months, six months and 12
months. Participants also answered questionnaires about job
performance, work engagement, state of mood and quality of life.
At the start of the study, participants in both groups were sitting
for nearly 10 hours per day, on average. Compared to participants
who kept their usual workstations, those given sit-stand desks were
sitting for 34 fewer minutes per day after three months, 59 fewer
minutes per day after six months and 82 fewer minutes per day after
a year.
The intervention group also showed improvements in job performance,
work engagement, occupational fatigue, daily anxiety, and quality of
life, the authors report. They also had fewer musculoskeletal
complaints.
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No differences were seen for sick days, however.
The pattern of improvement over time suggests that this approach may
produce the sustained reductions in sitting beyond 12 months that
are essential for public health gain, Dr Cindy Gray at the
University of Glasgow wrote in an accompanying editorial.
However, Gray noted, at 12 months the participants were still
sitting for more than six to eight hours per day, on average, which
is still an unhealthy level.
A limitation of the study, the authors acknowledge, is that it was
conducted in a single organization.
Also, the sit-stand desk users' levels of physical activity remained
unchanged. While they were sitting less, they were simply standing
more, which yields fewer health benefits compared to breaking up
sitting with periods of light physical activity.
Still, the authors write, this type of intervention - combining an
environmental change with additional strategies such as education,
self-monitoring, and brief coaching - deserves further research.
"We are not saying don't sit down, we all have to sit down,"
Edwardson told Reuters Health. "But it's getting the balance right
between the amount of time we spent sitting and the amount of time
we spend on our feet."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2AQzPFE and http://bit.ly/2APtk5P The BMJ,
online October 10, 2018.
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