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The WELL® Building Standard
Published in Traci Rose Rider, Margaret van Bakergem, Building for Well-Being, 2021
Traci Rose Rider, Margaret van Bakergem
Offerings and policies are another effective way of supporting active occupants, beyond the physical design of the built environment. The Physical Activity Opportunities feature encourages facilities to provide no-cost programming opportunities for physical activity on site or nearby, structured and led by a qualified physical activity professional. Points are based on the amount of time dedicated to the activity; one point is achieved for 30 minutes of structured activity provided a week, or two points for 150 minutes or more. While more under the purview of the organization, the design and construction team will need to ensure that appropriate space is available and easily maintained to support these offerings. Active Workstations is another feature largely facilitated by the organization but will need to be accommodated by the design of the physical space. Employees can increase their physical activity by using a treadmill desk or bicycle desk, or even a stair-stepper machine. More common options like adjustable workstation heights and adjustable devices can also be included. Physical Activity Promotion is another feature that is policy driven, this time wholly outside the scope of the design and construction team. This optimization works to incentivize physical activity by providing subsidies for memberships or fees, financial rewards, flexible work hours, or reduced health care premiums. It also encourages projects to monitor the utilization rate of incentives and programs. Finally, another optimization to help encourage physical activity outside of the design of the built environment is Self-Monitoring. As noted in the standard, activity monitors have been shown to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior, particularly when combined with goal-setting, coaching, and counseling. This strategy requires providing wearables to all employees, either at no-cost or subsidized by 50%, that enable occupants to track at least two physical activity metrics such as steps or minutes, along with one other metric such as sleep, breathing, or mindfulness practices.
Choosing Products for Active Office Work
Published in Robert Bridger, A Guide to Active Working in the Modern Office, 2019
Exercise balls, sit-stand workstations and fidget devices do not appear to raise energy expenditure compared to sitting at conventional desks. However, they do have other benefits – greater comfort if used correctly and improved circulation. Dupont et al. (2019) reviewed the evidence for the benefits and possible dis-benefits of cycling workstations, treadmill desks and standing workstations. These are summarized as follows: Compared to standing, treadmill desks increase energy expenditure by about 1 MET when walking slowly (see Figure 3.12).Cycling workstations also increase energy expenditure by about 1–3 METS depending on the speed of cycling.Compared to standing workstations, people using treadmill desks or cycle workstations report higher perceived exertion (they report that they are making more of an effort). Perceived exertion is often measured on a 10-point scale where “1” indicates no exertion and “10” indicates maximum exertion. For standing, the effort score was just below “1” on average and 1.74 to 2.6 for treadmill desks and cycling workstations respectively. Effort was perceived to be higher but not high (less than 3/10). So, people report greater effort with these workstations compared to standing but the effort is still very low and unlikely to affect concentration.There is some evidence that using a treadmill desk reduces the perceived speed and accuracy of using a mouse and that typing speeds are slightly reduced when using treadmill desks and cycling workstations but again, these differences are small amounting to reductions of only a few words per minute.There is some evidence that people feel more alert using treadmill desks and cycling workstations compared to standing and are less bored. There appear to be no effects of working at a treadmill desk or cycling workstation on attention and short-term memory compared to standing. So, for tasks requiring highly accurate use of the mouse and keyboard, treadmill desks might not be the answer and a seated workstation with fidget bar might be a better workstation alternative if the rest of the office layout encourages more activity, such as walking. For jobs with varying demands involving multiple task objects and requiring reaching and moving, a standing or sit-stand desk might be better. For tasks requiring concentration but not requiring fine control of the mouse or a fast typing speed, treadmill desks and cycling workstations may be appropriate. A lot depends on the scope for redesigning offices and jobs to build more movement away from the desk throughout the day.
Reducing prolonged sedentary time using a treadmill desk acutely improves cardiometabolic risk markers in male and female adults
Published in Journal of Sports Sciences, 2018
Rachael B Champion, Lindsey R Smith, Jennifer Smith, Bogdana Hirlav, Benjamin D Maylor, Stephanie L White, Daniel P Bailey
Stature and weight were measured using a stadiometer (Harpenden 98.602, Holtain Ltd., Crymych) and electronic weighing scales (Tanita Corp., Tokyo, Japan), respectively. Participants were then familiarised with the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale (Borg, 1982) and the Lifespan TR800-DT5 treadmill desk (LifeSpan, Salt Lake City, UT, USA) that was used during the experimental conditions. Participants then walked on the treadmill desk to determine a perceived light-intensity walking speed (RPE of 6–9) and this speed was then used for that respective participant in the relevant experimental condition. The treadmill desk walking speeds selected by the participants ranged between 1.2 and 3.5 km/h−1. Once the appropriate walking speed had been determined, participants walked at this speed for 15 min whilst typing about something meaningful to them on a laptop computer. The purpose of this was to confirm that the desk height and walking speed selected would be comfortable for the walking bouts performed in the relevant experimental condition (Alderman, Olson, & Mattina, 2014).