Sitting desks reduce daily work time, which can help engage workers

(Reuters Health) – A British study suggests that sit-stand desks reduce daily sitting time and can improve performance and commitment to work.

Researchers who studied 146 National Health Service staff found that after one year of use of sit-stand seats, combined with a coaching program, the length of the workers' session had been reduced by more than an hour a day. In addition, sit-stand users have improved their performance, commitment and recovery after professional fatigue.

"Replacing a little bit every day with a standing position can be beneficial in many ways for the health and saving the employer," said Dr. Charlotte Edwardson, chief author, Reuters Health. of the study, in an email.

Sitting all day at a "desk job" has been linked to health issues such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and earlier deaths, 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, as well as instructions for using it, a definition booklet. objectives, a tool for self-monitoring and rapid control, and coaching sessions. The remaining 69 volunteers continued to work on non-adjustable traditional workstations.

The duration of sitting was measured using a device carried on the thigh at the beginning of the study and again after three months, six months and 12 months. Participants also answered questionnaires on job performance, work engagement, state of mind and quality of life.

At the beginning of the study, participants in both groups sat an average of nearly 10 hours a day. Compared to participants who kept their usual workstation, seated seats were sitting with 34 minutes less per day after three months, 59 minutes less per day after six months and 82 minutes less per day after one year.

The intervention group also showed improvements in work performance, job engagement, work fatigue, daily anxiety and quality of life, report the authors. They also had fewer musculoskeletal problems.

No difference was observed, however, for sick days.

The model of improvement over time suggests that this approach can result in sustained reductions in the number of sessions beyond 12 months that are critical to improving public health, wrote Dr. Cindy Gray of the University from Glasgow in an editorial.

However, Gray noted, at 12 months, participants were still sitting more than six to eight hours a day on average, which remains an unhealthy level.

The authors acknowledge that one of the limitations of the study is that it was performed in one organization.

In addition, the level of physical activity of the users of the sit-stand office remained unchanged. While sitting less, they simply stood up, which has fewer health benefits than breaking the sitting position with periods of light physical activity.

Yet, the authors write, this type of intervention – combining environmental change and additional strategies such as education, self-monitoring and brief coaching – deserves to be deepened.

"We are not saying that we should not sit down, we all have to sit down," Edwardson told Reuters Health. "But we have to find the right balance between the time we spent sitting and the time we spent standing up."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2AQzPFE and http://bit.ly/2APtk5P The BMJ, online October 10, 2018.