Active Workstations Encourage Seated Workers to Sit Less, Move More

Prolonged workplace sitting has emerged as a major risk factor for chronic diseases. Standing and treadmill desks have become popular solutions among office workers to decrease workplace sitting. However, little is known about the long-term success of these desks in reducing daily sitting and increasing positive upright behaviors like standing and walking. In this study, 66 office workers were evenly assigned to a regular, standing and treadmill desk condition for one year. Both standing and treadmill desks allowed seated workers to reduce sitting more than regular desks users in the short-term. However, over time, standing desks were more successful than treadmill desks at breaking up sitting behavior more frequently. Long-term, standing desk users can be expected to reduce sitting time by about an hour per workday. One interesting finding was that in the long-term, treadmill desk users preferred to stand at the desk over walking. Another notable finding was that the standing desks were more successful in encouraging increased physical activity outside the workplace. The authors found that there is an initial excitement factor to using these desks, resulting in larger short-term sitting reductions, but which decrease over time. Translating this initial change into positive long-term habits may require additional motivational strategies.