A randomised control trial of the cognitive effects of working in a seated as opposed to a standing position in office workers

Abstract

Sedentary behaviour is increasing and has been identified as a potential significant health risk, particularly for desk-based employees. The development of sit-stand workstations in the workplace is one approach to reduce sedentary behaviour. However, there is uncertainty about the effects of sit-stand workstations on cognitive functioning. A sample of 36 university staff participated in a within-subjects randomised control trial examining the effect of sitting vs. standing for one hour per day for five consecutive days on attention, information processing speed, short-term memory, working memory and task efficiency. The results of the study showed no statistically significant difference in cognitive performance or work efficiency between the sitting and standing conditions, with all effect sizes being small to very small (all ds < .2). This result suggests that the use of sit-stand workstations is not associated with a reduction in cognitive performance. Practitioner Summary: Although it has been reported that the use of sit-stand desks may help offset adverse health effects of prolonged sitting, there is scant evidence about changes in productivity. This randomised control study showed that there was no difference between sitting and standing for one hour on cognitive function or task efficiency in university staff.

The Short Term Musculoskeletal and Cognitive Effects of Prolonged Sitting During Office Computer Work

“…The increase in errors is consistent with other evidence showing working in prolonged positions led to poorer cognitive function than working with interruption and adoption of an alternate work position [58]. On the other hand, some studies have failed to find a significant difference in cognitive function (including executive tasks, memory and attention) over periods of uninterrupted sitting [29] and in studies with shorter periods [59]. It is noted, however, that not all studies of cognitive function have considered the same attributes or over the same length of time which reduces the ability to make direct comparisons [60].…”

Medium-term effects of a two-desk sit/stand workstation on cognitive performance and workload for healthy people performing sedentary work: a secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial

“…Accuracy seems to be affected by these workstations; however, the current findings show contradictory effects, making the nature of the association difficult to ascertain (Commissaris et al 2014;Ghesmaty Sangachin, Gustafson, and Cavuoto 2016). When comparing findings of standing to sitting workstations, standing does not appear to alter reading skills (Commissaris et al 2014), working memory (Bantoft et al 2015;Russell et al 2015) or arithmetic problem solving (Karakolis, Barrett, and Callaghan 2016), while contradictory effects on motor tasks (Ghesmaty Sangachin, Gustafson, and Cavuoto 2016; Karakolis, Barrett, and Callaghan 2016;Straker, Levine, and Campbell 2009) and attention (Schraefel, Jay, and Andersen 2012) have been found.…”

“…Furthermore, different pronounced effects occurred between study groups for concentration performance. It is likely that the baseline differencescaused by an insufficient wash out phasepaired with strong group-independent practice effectsconsistent with the short-term study results (Schwartz et al 2017) and common for multiple usage (Nuechterlein et al 2008;Russell et al 2015;Wennberg et al 2016)could have led to ceiling effects within the d2R-test (Brickenkamp, Schmidt-Atzert, and Liepmann 2010). These practice and ceiling effects might have attenuated performance increases and lead to underestimated time dependencies (Brickenkamp, Schmidt-Atzert, and Liepmann 2010) and insufficient statistical power.…”

“…The effects of sit/stand and active workstations on cognitive performance have mainly been studied in laboratory settings and the findings are somewhat inconsistent and controversial (Neuhaus et al 2014;Russell et al 2015). Working in motion (e.g.…”

Effect of alternating postures on cognitive performance for healthy people performing sedentary work

“…In summary, the positive effects of sit-to-stand workstations on physical health are well documented (Healy et al 2008;Peddie et al 2013). Similarly, the cognitive performance aspects of dedicated standing or sitting postures have been studied (Russell et al 2015). By comparison, the effects of sit-to-stand transitions on cognitive performance have not been well investigated and the cognitive performance effects (positive or negative) of working in alternating postures remain unclear.…”