Steps and sitting in a working population

Abstract

This study aimed to assess sitting time and number of steps taken each day, and the relationships between these variables, in a sample of working Australian adults. Workers (N = 185) wore a pedometer for 7 days and recorded the number of steps taken and time spent sitting each day. Average time spent sitting on weekdays was 9.4 (SD = 2.40) hr, with about half spent sitting at work. Despite this, the average steps taken each day (M = 8,873, SD = 2,757) was higher on weekdays than on weekend days. There was a clear inverse relationship between sitting time at work and number of steps taken on weekdays, r = -.34, p < .001); those in the highest tertile for sitting time reported about 3,000 fewer daily steps. Workers in managerial and professional occupations reported more time sitting at work (M = 6.2 hr per day) and lower weekday step counts (M = 7,883, N = 43) than technical (M = 3.3 hr sitting at work and 10,731 weekday steps, N = 33) and blue collar workers (M = 1.6 hours sitting and 11,784 steps, N = 11). The findings suggest those whose daily work involves long hours of sitting should be the focus of efforts to promote physical activity both within and outside the workplace.

Total and domain-specific sitting time among employees in desk-based work settings in Australia

“…22,26 By contrast, sitting time was 1.5 times the amount of sitting time that has been reported in population samples of young and midaged Australian women 28 and more than two times higher than has been reported in the Australian general population. 16 This difference might be partially accounted for by the use of different questionnaires.…”

“…16 This difference might be partially accounted for by the use of different questionnaires. For example, Bauman et al 16 used a singleitem total sitting time measure from the International Physical Activity Questionnaireshort form (IPAQ-short) to assess the sitting levels of Australian adults, whereas the present study and other studies 22,26 have used a domain-specific questionnaire. Moreover, given that the present study recruited employed adults who mostly sat for their working tasks, it is likely that the higher sitting volumes than those previously reported reflect the restriction of our sample to adults working in desk-based settings.…”

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

“…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).…”

Walks4Work: Assessing the role of the natural environment in a workplace physical activity intervention

“…Regular walking promotes sustainable changes in PA and contributes to the achievement of recommended levels of moderate exercise (5), which subsequently benefits CVD risk profile (6). The workplace is a suitable location for incorporating PA interventions, such as walking, at a community level (7)(8)(9). Indeed, workplace interventions that include walking increase PA (10), but whether they decrease sedentary behavior is less clear.…”