College Classroom Instructors Can Effectively Promote Standing among Students Provided with Standing Desks

Abstract

Standing desks may reduce sedentary behaviors in college students. Students at one mid-size urban university in the Midwestern United States were randomized into intervention (n = 21) and control groups (n = 27) to assess standing time when given access to standing desks. The intervention group received visual and oral instructor prompts to stand, while the control received no prompts during a 50 min lecture. All students were provided with adjustable tabletop standing desks. ActivPAL accelerometers measured sitting and standing time. A brief survey assessed student preferences, including facilitators and barriers to standing. Mean standing time was greater in the intervention vs. control group (26 vs. 17 min, p = 0.023). Students tended to stand in the corners and edges of the room. Main facilitators for standing included to break up sitting, reduce back pain, and increase attention and focus; main barriers were not wanting to distract others or be the only one standing. In total, 87.5% of intervention group participants found five prompts to stand were adequate. Students increased standing time in class when provided with standing desks and instructor prompts to stand. Findings can inform the layout of classrooms and when and how to promote standing desks during lectures.

An Exploration of Domain-Specific Sedentary Behaviors in College Students by Lifestyle Factors and Sociodemographics

“…We included not only doing homework, but also time sitting in class and doing course-related work on the computer to capture the full range of sedentary educational pursuits. There are emerging data that it is feasible to reduce sedentary time in the college classroom setting [ 44 , 45 , 46 ] through the implementation of environmental changes, such as installing standing desks or encouraging standing in lectures, which may help reduce educational sedentary behavior without decreasing the time spent in educational pursuits.…”