Standing desks alongside other measures cut office workers' sitting time by an hour a day

A growing body of evidence indicates that sedentary lifestyles are associated with higher levels of chronic disease, including heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers, and higher rates of depression and anxiety.

Office-based workers are one of the most sedentary populations, spending 73% of their workday and 66% of their waking day sitting, but studies looking at ways to reduce sitting in the workplace have been deemed low quality.

To address these research gaps, a team of researchers based in the UK, with collaborators in Australia set out to evaluate the impact of SMART Work & Life (SWAL), an intervention designed to reduce sitting time and increase moving time at work, with and without a standing desk, delivered by workplace champions.

The trial involved 756 office workers from two councils in Leicester, three in Greater Manchester, and one in Liverpool. Participants were randomly assigned to the SWAL intervention, the SWAL intervention with a standing desk, or a control group (working as usual) over 12 months.

The SWAL intervention group was given a range of resources to help them reduce their sitting time, and highlight the health risks of too much sitting. The SWAL plus desk group also received a height adjustable desk to encourage less sitting time. The control group carried on working as usual.

Small, but non-clinically meaningful improvements in stress, wellbeing, and a sense of work-related vigor were found for both intervention groups compared with the control group at three and 12 months, as well as lower limb pain (hips, knees, and ankles) in the SWAL plus desk group. These measures were also linked to small improvements in stress, wellbeing, and energy levels at work, although the researchers stress that these improvements were not clinically meaningful.

Although time spent sitting was lower in both intervention groups compared with the control group, the researchers note that most participants simply replaced sitting with standing, and they say further work is needed to encourage more physical activity, particularly outside of working hours.

Ref:

Effectiveness of an intervention for reducing sitting time and improving health in office workers: three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial, The BMJ,10.1136/BMJ‑2021‑069288,17-Aug-2022