Walking workstations can improve mental

Posted on October 31, 2014

Going to work is often associated with high stress and low physical activity. For many, work is characterized by long hours of sitting, which is linked to poor health. Emerging research has shown that sitting is very bad for our mental health, increases our chance of heart disease and ups our risk of being disabled.

With these concerns in mind Dr. Michael Sliter, an assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), has developed a walking workstation that can be used to burn off stress and calories.

A sample of 180 participants were evaluated on boredom, task satisfaction, stress, arousal, and performance while completing work-related computer tasks across four randomly assigned workstations: seated, standing, cycling, or walking.

The researchers found walking workstation participants had higher satisfaction and arousal, while experiencing less boredom and stress than the standing and sitting workstation participants.

Sliter hopes the study encourages employers to examine methods to assist workers in healthy living.

Click the link below to read the full article.


Source material from Psych Central