There is a plethora of workplace physical activity interventions designed to increase purposeful movement, yet few are designed to alleviate prolonged occupational sitting time. A pilot study was conducted to test the feasibility of a workplace e-health intervention based on a passive approach to increase nonpurposeful movement as a means of reducing sitting time. The study was trialled in a professional workplace with forty-six participants (33 females and 13 males) for a period of twenty-six weeks. Participants in the first thirteen weeks received a passive prompt every 45 minutes on their computer screen reminding them to stand and engage in nonpurposeful activity throughout their workday. After thirteen weeks, the prompt was disabled, and participants were then free to voluntary engage the software. Results demonstrated that when employees were exposed to a passive prompt, as opposed to an active prompt, they were five times more likely to fully adhere to completing a movement break every hour of the workday. Based on this pilot study, we suggest that the notion that people are willing to participate in a coercive workplace e-health intervention is promising, and there is a need for further investigation.

The purpose of this study was to identify the most accurate predictor of VO2max from a variety of running tests. 32 young adult male undergraduates of (mean +/- SE) age 20.14 +/- 0.34 yr., height 179.4 +/- 1.8 cm, weight 73.7 +/- 2.8 kg, and VO2max 57.89 +/- 1.1 ml.kg-1.min.-1 were randomly tested on four different predictive VO2max running tests to assess their actual VO2max, based on a continuous, progressive treadmill protocol and obtained via gas analysis. The four tests consisted of a treadmill jogging test, 1.5 mile run, Cooper's 12-min. run, and the 20-m progressive shuttle-run test. An analysis of variance applied to means indicated significance. Post hoc analysis between the means with correction by Scheffé showed significant difference between the predictive submaximal treadmill jogging test and the 12-min. run but no other differences. The strength of the relationship between predictive tests and VO2max varied, with the 12-min. run having the highest correlation of .87, followed by the 1.5 mile run .87, 20-m progressive shuttle run .82, and the treadmill jogging test .50. The 12-min. run had the highest correlation of all tests with VO2max in young men, with active to trained levels of fitness. The 1.5 mile and 20-m shuttle run also provided accurate predictions of VO2max and so should be used for an accurate prediction of young men's VO2max.

We aim to provide a better picture of the outcomes associated with implementing a nonpurposeful, physical activity, e-health intervention in a professional workplace. There is a need for health professionals to evaluate physical-activity-based workplace health interventions with a full range of measures. Using a social ecological model as a basis, we identify a range of subjective outcomes from 15 interviews of a cross section of participants. We document that not only did participants report a range of positive outcomes across multiple systems of influence, but they experienced some negative outcomes because of disruption to work flow and a changing of work habit. We conclude that using subjective evaluations provides a comprehensive picture of the factors that influence judgments of the efficacy of a workplace health intervention.

Objective:To evaluate the blood pressure (BP) effects of a yearlong e-health solution designed to interrupt prolonged occupational sitting time.Methods:BP data of 228 desk-based employees (45.1 ± 10.5 years) were analyzed at baseline, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.Results:Systolic BP significantly reduced from baseline for the first 9 months (1.0 to 3.4 mmHg; P < 0.01) while diastolic and mean arterial pressure decreased for the full 12-months (4 to 5 mmHg for diastolic pressure and 3.6 to 4.2 mmHg for MAP; all P < 0.01).Participants used the e-health solution 5.5 ± 2.0 times/day in the first 3 months which reduced to 4.2 ± 2.5 times/day by the end of the study (P < 0.05).Conclusions:An e-health solution designed to increase non-exercise physical activity by interrupting sitting time in the workplace is feasible and produced long-term reductions in blood pressure.