Desks with pedals to keep workers fit

WASHINGTON: Desks that allow employees to pedal while working can make them healthier and more productive by fighting the ill-effects of a sedentary lifestyle, a new study has claimed.

By providing workers with a portable pedalling device under their desks, Lucas Carr, from the University of Iowa in the US, discovered that people who once sat all day at work now moved without getting up.

The study also found that workers who pedalled more were likelier to report weight loss, improved concentration at work, and fewer sick days than co-workers who pedalled less.

Carr said the key to the findings was providing workers with a pedalling device that was not only comfortable and easy to use, but was theirs alone to pedal. "We wanted to see if workers would use these devices over a long period of time, and we found the design of the device is critically important," Carr said. Another essential component was privacy. Place a high-end exercise bike or treadmill desk in the hall as a shared device, and very few employees will use them, Carr said. "It's a great idea in theory, but it doesn't work over the long haul for most people," he said.

Carr's 16-week pilot study was the third and longest in a series of studies he has conducted testing portable pedal machines among workers with sedentary jobs. His interest stems from growing evidence that people who sit all day — even if they're active outside of work — are at increased risk for serious health conditions such as multiple chronic diseases, poorer cognitive function, and mental distress. The study appeared in the 'American Journal of Preventive Medicine'.

Source | Times of India | 12 August 2015