Do office workers desire to sit less in the workplace setting?
Authors: Wallmann-Sperlich B, Froboese I.
Background: Prolonged sitting time is identified as a health risk factor. In developed
countries, prolonged and uninterrupted sitting is extremely prominent in the desk-based
working setting, so that numerous activities are undertaken to counteract and interrupt
workplace sitting. However, no knowledge exists on how long deskbased workers actually
desire to stand, walk or perform physically demanding tasks at their workplace. Hence, the
aim of this study was to investigate the actual proportion of sitting, standing, walking and
physically demanding tasks in the desk-based working setting, as well as the desired
proportion of these four.
Methods: A cross-sectional sample of adult German workers in a desk-based setting (n =
733; 386 men; 41.0 •} 13.8 years) were interviewed by telephone, applying the
Occupational Sitting and Physical Activity Questionnaire (OSPAQ) and were asked questions
concerning their desired proportion of sitting, standing, walking and physically demanding
tasks. A paired t-test examined differences in the stated and desired proportion of sitting,
standing, walking and physically demanding tasks.
Results: Desk-based workers sit 73.1%, stand 11.4%, walk 13.8% and are physically
demanded 4.8% of their working hours. They wish to sit 53.5% (<.001), to stand 17.4%
(<.001), to walk 23.4% (<.001) and to be physically demanded 9.3% of their working time.
Discussion: The present findings show that reducing sitting time in the workplace setting is
not only important to promote health, but is also the desire of desk-based workers.
Interestingly, the stated amount of 53.5% of sitting during a working day fits well to the
recent published expert statement commissioned by Public Health England and the Active
Working Community Interest Company (Buckley et al., 2015) who recommend at least 2
h/day progressing to a total accumulation of 4 h/day of standing and light activity during
working hours.
However, the present study also shows that not only activities have to be addressed to
increase the standing proportion, i.e. through sit-andstand work stations, but also to
introduce arrangements for promoting walking within the workplace setting. Implications:
Activities to reduce sitting time in the workplace setting are supported by the desire of the
desk-based workers, which is a good foundation for workplace actions. However, besides
promoting standing in the workplace setting, there is a need for actions addressing more
walking and physically demanding tasks in the workplace setting.
Bron: http://www.hepaeurope2016.eu/filestore/Filetoupload,722338,en.pdf