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Health experts are becoming increasingly worried about all those white-collar workers who spend most of their time glued to their desks and their computers. Numerous studies have revealed that the jobs that involve a lot of sitting down can lead to obesity, fatigue, heart diseases, diabetes and even certain types of cancer.
Thus, it is important to be active in order to stay healthy. Physical activity plays a huge role in our lives and hitting the gym twice a week is not nearly enough.
A few big companies offer gym subscriptions and even place various devices such as treadmills or elliptical bikes in their headquarters to encourage their employees to do as much exercise as possible in their free time.
However, another solution seems to be at hand as well – desks with pedals. These allow you to move while working and thus avoid the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
A researcher from the University of Iowa, Lucas Carr said that if workers were given a portable pedaling device which they could place under their desks, would help them stay fitter and healthier, because they could do physical exercise without moving at all.
Pedaling while at work could soon lead to weight loss and even better concentration. This would not only have a great impact on workers but also on the company. A healthy employee means better performance and fewer sick days. So, it is safe to say that it is a win-win situation.
Carr carried out a four months study in order to test what characteristics the device should have in order to be successful and popular with workers who have sedentary jobs.
“We wanted to see if workers would use these devices over a long period of time, and we found the design of the device is critically important,” said Carr.
It is important that the device is only used by that person, as it was shown that shared machines are not so successful: “It’s a great idea in theory, but it doesn’t work over the long haul for most people,” he explained. It must also be easy to use and comfortable.
The results of the study were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
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