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A recent study from the University of Iowa suggests that desks with pedals reduce sedentariness. The study found that employees inside an office could be more active by simply pedaling a bike, without having to leave their workplaces. By giving workers portable pedaling devices, workers could be moving all day without having to get up from their offices.
A study published earlier this year has suggested that sitting for a very long time may result to the development of some mental health problems like anxiety and depression. The team of scientists from the University of Iowa has found a solution, however. They believe that by simply putting a pedaling device under each desk the workers could be able to exercise while they talk on the phone, type documents or reply to emails.
The study revealed that the workers inside offices who were given this kind of device preferred to use it and this way they increased their daily physical activity. The subjects inside the test actually lost weight, requested fewer sick days and had better concentration overall. A lot of companies have tried to include physical activities inside the workplace and provided their workers with fitness facilities.
An assistant professor of health and human physiology and also a member of the Obesity Research and Education initiative from the University of Iowa, Lucas Carr said that this is a great idea; however this might not work in the long run.
Carr added that these kinds of facilities are usually used by only the healthiest employees and not by the people who should improve their health. For the study, Carr and his team gathered a group of 27 obese people from Iowa who were given pedaling devices on their desks and monitors so that the scientists could analyze exactly how much time they spent exercising.
They discovered that most people did not only reach the recommended 30 minute period of exercise daily, but they actually paddled for 50 minutes or more.
A recent survey conducted by the British Health Foundation discovered that about half of the female workers and around 40 percent of all male workers don’t spend even 30 minutes walking around every day inside the workplace.
The findings were displayed at the San Antonio Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine in 2015 and were later published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
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