Prompts to Disrupt Sitting Time and Increase Physical Activity at Work, 2011–2012

TLDR

The study aimed to evaluate how workplace prompts to stand or walk affect office workers’ sitting and activity patterns. Sixty office workers were randomized to a Stand group receiving hourly prompts to stand or a Step group receiving the same prompts plus a 100‑step walk prompt, and sitting/activity was measured with ActivPAL over three consecutive workdays at baseline and intervention. Both interventions reduced prolonged sitting, with the Step prompt additionally increasing steps, but neither group showed significant between‑group differences, suggesting that prompting standing alone may reduce sitting while adding walking may boost activity without further reducing sitting.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess change in sitting and physical activity behavior in response to a workplace intervention to disrupt prolonged sitting time.Sixty office workers were randomized to either a Stand group (n = 29), which received hourly prompts (computer-based and wrist-worn) to stand up, or a Step group (n = 31), which received the same hourly prompts and an additional prompt to walk 100 steps or more upon standing. An ActivPAL monitor was used to assess sitting and physical activity behavior on the same 3 consecutive workdays during baseline and intervention periods. Mixed-effect models with random intercepts and random slopes for time were performed to assess change between groups and across time.Both groups significantly reduced duration of average sitting bouts (Stand group, by 16%; Step group, by 19%) and the number of sitting bouts of 60 minutes or more (Step group, by 36%; Stand group, by 54%). The Stand group significantly reduced total sitting time (by 6.6%), duration of the longest sitting bout (by 29%), and number of sitting bouts of 30 minutes or more (by 13%) and increased the number of sit-to-stand transitions (by 15%) and standing time (by 23%). Stepping time significantly increased in the Stand (by 14%) and Step (by 29%) groups, but only the Step group significantly increased (by 35%) the number of steps per workday. Differences in changes from baseline to intervention between groups were not significant for any outcome.Interventions that focus on disrupting sitting time only in the workplace may result in less sitting. When sitting time disruptions are paired with a physical activity prompt, people may be more likely to increase their workday physical activity, but the effect on sitting time may be attenuated.