Making office workers healthier: A public health intervention making office workers use their height-adjustable office desks more, conducted for LINAK® produce the largest reduction in workplace sitting time (Dunstan, et al., 2013). Thus, LINAK A/S tested two reminder solutions in three different workplaces in Denmark for 2-3 weeks. Workplace 1 (27 participants) and workplace 2 (21 participants) received email reminders as intervention while workplace 3 (17 participants) received tactile and auditory reminders as intervention. Data was collected through software and hardware measuring if the desk was in a standing or in a sitting position, and if the person was at his/her desk. “We spend up to 12 hours a day sitting, many of these hours during work (van der Ploeg, Chey, Korda, Banks, & Bauman, 2012).” Results Because of interventions, light users’ standing time increased from 7.6% (36.3 min/day) in the baseline during an eight-hour working day to 16.4% (78.9 min/day) during the intervention period. While there was no effect on heavy users, reminders had a positive effect on the office users that were not using their height-adjustable office desk at all – increasing their standing time to 12.3 min/day. In short, the interventions worked better, the less the office workers stood up in the baseline period. Conclusion LINAK® A/S wanted to test if reminders would increase the odds of office workers using their height-adjustable office desks. Both interventions tested in the current pilot study showed promising effect on increasing standing time for office workers using their desk 20 % or less of the time to begin with. While it depends on individual factors to form a new habit – ranging from a few weeks to a few months – interventions appear to offer a promising tool for supporting office workers to increase the use their height adjustable office desks (Clear, 2014). More information Contact your local LINAK office to receive the full report. References Buckley, J., Hedge, A., Yates, T., Copeland, R., Loosemore, M., Hamer, M., . . . Dunstan, W. (2015). The sedentary office: a growing case for change towards better health and productivity. Expert statement commissioned by Public Health England and the Active Working Community Interest Company. Br J Sports Med, pp. 1-6. Clear, J. (2014, April 10). How Long Does It Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science). Retrieved May 1, 2017, from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-clear/forming-newhabits_b_5104807.html Dolan, P., & et. al. (2010). Mindspace - influencing behaviour through public policy. Institute for government. Cabinet Office. Dunstan, D. W., Wiesner, G., Eakin, E. G., Neuhaus, M., Owen, N., LaMontagne, A. D., . . . Healy, G. N. (2013). Reducing office workers’ sitting time: rationale and study design for the Stand Up Victoria cluster randomized trial. BMC Public Health, 13, 1-14. Hamilton, M. T., Healy, G. N., Dunstan, D. W., Zderic, T. W., & Owen, N. (2008, July). Too Little Exercise and Too Much Sitting: Inactivity Physiology and the Need for New Recommendations on Sedentary Behavior. Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports, 2(4), 292-298. Schmid, D., & Leitzmann, M. F. (2014, June 16). Television Viewing and Time Spent Sedentary in Relation to Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 1-9. Van der Ploeg, H., Chey, T., Korda, R., Banks, E., & Bauman, A. (2012, March). Sitting Time and All-Cause Mortality Risk in 222 497 Australian Adults. Arch Intern/Vol. 172 (No. 6), pp. 494-500. Van Uffelen, J. G., Wong, J., Chau, J. Y., van der Ploeg, H. P., Riphagen, I., Gilson, N. D., . . . Brown, W. J. (2010). Occupational Sitting and Health Risks - A Systematic Review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 39(4), 379-388. LINAK.COM/DESKLINE
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