Prolonged sedentary time and physical activity in workplace and non-work contexts: a cross-sectional study of office, customer service and call centre employees

Abstract

BackgroundTo examine sedentary time, prolonged sedentary bouts and physical activity in Australian employees from different workplace settings, within work and non-work contexts.MethodsA convenience sample of 193 employees working in offices (131), call centres (36) and customer service (26) was recruited. Actigraph GT1M accelerometers were used to derive percentages of time spent sedentary (<100 counts per minute; cpm), in prolonged sedentary bouts (≥20 minutes or ≥30 minutes), light-intensity activity (100–1951 cpm) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA; ≥1952 cpm). Using mixed models adjusted for confounders, these were compared for: work days versus non-work days; work hours versus non-work hours (work days only); and, across workplace settings.ResultsWorking hours were mostly spent sedentary (77.0%, 95%CI: 76.3, 77.6), with approximately half of this time accumulated in prolonged bouts of 20 minutes or more. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in all outcomes between workdays and non-work days, and, on workdays, between work- versus non-work hours. Results consistently showed “work” was more sedentary and had less light-intensity activity, than “non-work”. The period immediately after work appeared important for MVPA. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in all sedentary and activity outcomes occurring during work hours across the workplace settings. Call-centre workers were generally the most sedentary and least physically active at work; customer service workers were typically the least sedentary and the most active at work.ConclusionThe workplace is a key setting for prolonged sedentary time, especially for some occupational groups, and the potential health risk burden attached requires investigation. Future workplace regulations and health promotion initiatives for sedentary occupations to reduce prolonged sitting time should be considered.

Nine year changes in sitting time in young and mid-aged Australian women: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study for Women's Health

“…Beginning work was also associated with decreased ST in the young women, a finding which may reflect a transition to jobs such as nursing, teaching, service etc., which typically have lower ST than managers and office workers (Thorp et al, 2012, Jans et al, 2007.…”

“…The shift away from the workplace, which often involves high ST (Jans et al, 2007, Miller and Brown, 2004, Thorp et al, 2012, may allow more time for active leisure pursuits in retirement. This is supported by the findings from a previous ALSWH study which showed that retirement was associated with increases in moderate and vigorous PA (Brown et al, 2009).…”

Multi-instrument assessment of physical activity in female office workers

“…Therefore, accurate and proper assessment of occupational physical activity is an important but challenging task for health researchers [5]. In particular, it is difficult to assess light intensity physical activity via self-report, but such activity may have important health implications for workers if it replaces long hours spent to perform sedentary tasks [6][7][8]. In contrast to subjective assessment through self-report, use of individual monitors, such as pedometers or armbands, may provide an objective measure of human behavior.…”

Interventions to reduce sedentary behavior and increase physical activity during productive work: a systematic review

“…Studies using accelerometer have shown Australian adults to be sedentary for an average of 57% of their waking hours, corresponding to just over 9 hours per day (12), while US adults were sedentary for 7.3-7.9 hours per day, depending on age (13). For many people of working age, a considerable part of the total sedentary time on a workday occurs during working hours (14,15). Thus, too much sitting and too little PA during working hours has been raised as an emerging major public health concern by several authors (16)(17)(18), and recommendations have been proposed to ensure sufficient PA at work (19).…”