A treadmill desk, walking desk or treadmill workstation is a computer desk that is adapted so that the user walks on a treadmill while performing office tasks. Persons using a treadmill desk seek to change the sedentary lifestyle associated with being an office worker and to integrate gentle exercise into their working day.
Persons with a sedentary lifestyle are at increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, and lower than average life expectancy. [1] [2] The desk treadmill is an exercise machine which office workers may use to get more physical activity during their work day. [1] On the premise of increasing productivity and health, treadmill desks were designed to help users incorporate standing and walking into their work routine. [3]
Nathan Edelson first proposed the idea of a treadmill desk. [4] and published the first peer reviewed articles on the topic. [5] [6] His lightweight, portable version of a desk for use with a treadmill was patented in 1993. [7] Edelson produced several prototypes that were used in a home and work office since the early 1990s with utilizing treadmills, stationary bicycles, and standing uptight to work. (see photos of prototypes)
Dr. Seth Roberts, a professor of psychology from UC Berkeley designed a treadmill desk in 1996, was an early user. [3] [8] [9]
The New York Times credits Dr. James Levine, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic, as the popular inspiration for the treadmill desk. He developed the concept as part of his work with non-exercise activity thermogenesis, constructing a treadmill desk by placing a bedside hospital tray over a $400 treadmill. [3] [10]
After testing a treadmill desk in 2006 for several months under the supervision of Dr James Levine, [11] Roger Highfield helped popularize the idea in the UK. He now uses one in the Science Museum in London and has advocated their widespread adoption. [12] [13]
In 2009, the TrekDesk Treadmill Desk entered the market as the first height adjustable desk with a universal design which fit any existing treadmill. In 2013, novelist Amanda Filipacchi wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal about buying a LifeSpan Fitness treadmill desk for herself and TreadDesk's the Tread for her partner after reading about Susan Orlean having a treadmill desk . [14]
In 2015, Move To Excellence began distributing LifeSpan Treadmill Desks in the Middle East. In 2018, the Director of the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi launched the 10k steps a day challenge while walking on a treadmill desk during the 2018 Arab Health event.
The recommended speed for walking on a treadmill while working at a computer is less than 2 miles per hour. To prevent injury, treadmill desks require compliance with the same ergonomic safety standards recommended for any computer desk, including placement such that the user's wrists are flat by the keyboard, their elbows form a 90-degree angle when typing, and their eyes may look forward to the monitor. [1]
Treadmill desks are equipped with safety features to minimize the possibility for injury. A safety key attaches the console to an article of clothing on the user. The key can be pulled at any time to immediately stop the treadmill belt. Many treadmill desks are programmed to pause the belt if the user steps off for more than 20 seconds during a workout. A movement indicator is typically printed on the belt of the treadmill to show belt movement. [15]
Users who tested treadmill desks reported advice to retain a traditional desk with a seat and to alternate between sitting and walking at different desks while becoming accustomed to the treadmill desk. [1] Additionally, reading email and surfing the Internet were found to be easier to manage than learning to type or write while standing and walking. [1] Talking on the phone while walking can be disruptive in some cases either because of changing the breathing rate of the user or because of the noise from the treadmill itself. [1]
A treadmill desk is not intended to provide aerobic exercise, but rather to keep the user's metabolism over the basal metabolic rate. [1]
According to a study by James Levine at the Mayo Clinic, users can burn an estimated 100–130 calories per hour at speeds slower than 2 miles per hour. [3] According to a 2007 Mayo Clinic study of office workers with obesity, "If sitting computer-time were replaced by walking-and-working, energy expenditure could increase by 100 cal/h. Thus, if obese individuals were to replace time spent sitting at the computer with walking computer time by 2–3 h/day, [...] a weight loss of 20–30 kg/year could occur." [16] However, when Levine and associates actually conducted a 12-month trial in 2013, findings showed that subjects lost an average of 1.4 ± 3.3 kg (3 ± 7.2 lbs), with a higher rate of weight loss among obese subjects at 2.3 ± 3.5 kg ( 5 ± 7.7 lbs). [17] It is not clear if treadmill desks are an effective intervention to reduce sitting. [18] Prolonged sitting is linked to an “increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and even early death.” [19]
A study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE found that usage of a treadmill desk had a modest negative effect on the ability to recall sequences of numbers, indicating a possible effect on memory. However, the study noted its small sample size (75) and the possibility of an adjustment period as limitations, and the researchers suggested that treadmill desks have considerable benefits as long as the possible, possibly short-term effects on memory are taken into account. [20]
However, another study conducted by James Levine found that computer task performance was lower while walking on a treadmill desk in comparison to standard chair sitting. Specifically, mouse performances were affected with a 14% decrease in mouse pointing speed and 106% increase in mouse error rate. Mouse accuracy and speed were affected more than typing performance. [21]
A systematic review and meta-analysis of treadmill desks on energy expenditure, sitting time and cardiometabolic health in adults. The review took thirteen relevant studies with a total 351 participants. The results of the analysis showed a significant increase in energy expenditure (105.23 kcal per hour, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 90.41 to 120.4), and metabolic rate (5.0 mL/kg/min, 95% CI: 3.35 to 6.64) to treadmill users when comparing to sitting conditions. Additionally, there was a significant reduction in sitting time over a day period when comparing treadmill desks users vs. conventional desk (− 1.73 min per hour, 95% CI: − 3.3 to − 0.17). However, further studies must be conducted to show evidence of significant changes on cardiometabolic health. [22]
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There are several types of treadmill desks available on the open market. Treadmill desks fall into three categories:
In 2013 in the United States a product testing organization tested treadmills priced at $750 and $1500, and recommended that consumers purchase models with safety and personalization features appropriate for the individual users. [23] Various guides to building a treadmill desk are available. [24] [25]
Sitting is a basic action and resting position in which the body weight is supported primarily by the bony ischial tuberosities with the buttocks in contact with the ground or a horizontal surface such as a chair seat, instead of by the lower limbs as in standing, squatting or kneeling. When sitting, the torso is more or less upright, although sometimes it can lean against other objects for a more relaxed posture.
A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional service, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or other administrative setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, consulting, academia, accountancy, business and executive management, customer support, design, economics, engineering, market research, finance, human resources, operations research, marketing, public relations, information technology, networking, law, healthcare, architecture, and research and development. In contrast: blue-collar workers perform manual labor or work in skilled trades; pink-collar workers work in care, health care, social work, or teaching; and grey-collar jobs combine manual labor and skilled trades with non-manual or managerial duties.
A standing desk or stand-up desk is a desk conceived for writing, reading or drawing while standing up or while sitting on a high stool.
Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of sports, occupations, and daily activities. Physical fitness is generally achieved through proper nutrition, moderate-vigorous physical exercise, and sufficient rest along with a formal recovery plan.
The computer desk and related ergonomic desk are furniture pieces designed to comfortably and aesthetically provide a working surface and house or conceal office equipment including computers, peripherals and cabling for office and home-office users.
A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of mill operated by a person or animal treading the steps of a treadwheel to grind grain. In later times, treadmills were used as punishment devices for people sentenced to hard labour in prisons. The terms treadmill and treadwheel were used interchangeably for the power and punishment mechanisms.
Weight cycling, also known as yo-yo dieting, is the repeated loss and gain of weight, resembling the up-down motion of a yo-yo. The purpose of the temporary weight loss the yo-yo diet delivers is to lure the dieting into the illusion of success, but due to the nature of the diet, they are impossible to sustain, therefore the dieter gives up, often due to hunger or discomfort, and gains the weight back. The dieter then seeks to lose the regained weight, and the cycle begins again. Other individuals cycle weight deliberately in service of bodybuilding or athletic goals. Weight cycling contributes to increased risk of later obesity, due to repeated signals being sent to the body signalling that it's in starvation mode; therefore it learns to be better and better at storing fat, and increases the strain on vital organs, likely promoting cardiometabolic disease.
Sedentary lifestyle is a lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and/or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like socializing, watching TV, playing video games, reading or using a mobile phone or computer for much of the day. A sedentary lifestyle contributes to poor health quality, diseases as well as many preventable causes of death.
The metabolic equivalent of task (MET) is the objective measure of the ratio of the rate at which a person expends energy, relative to the mass of that person, while performing some specific physical activity compared to a reference, currently set by convention at an absolute 3.5 mL of oxygen per kg per minute, which is the energy expended when sitting quietly by a reference individual, chosen to be roughly representative of the general population, and thereby suited to epidemiological surveys. A Compendium of Physical Activities is available online, which provides MET values for hundreds of activities.
Physical activity is defined as any voluntary bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Physical activity encompasses all activities, at any intensity, performed during any time of day or night. It includes both voluntary exercise and incidental activity integrated into the daily routine. This integrated activity may not be planned, structured, repetitive or purposeful for the improvement of physical fitness, and may include activities such as walking to the local shop, cleaning, working, active transport etc. Lack of physical activity is associated with a range of negative health outcomes, whereas increased physical activity can improve physical and mental health, as well as cognitive and cardiovascular health. There are at least eight investments that work to increase population-level physical activity, including whole-of-school programmes, active transport, active urban design, healthcare, public education and mass media, sport for all, workplaces and community-wide programmes. Physical activity increases energy expenditure and is a key regulator in controlling body weight. In human beings, differences among individuals in the amount of physical activity have a substantial genetic basis.
Physical fitness is maintained by a range of physical activities. Physical activity is defined by the World Health Organization as "any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure." Human factors and social influences are important in starting and maintaining such activities. Social environments can influence motivation and persistence, through pressures towards social conformity.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to exercise:
Worldwide there has been a large shift towards less physically demanding work and a more sedentary lifestyle. This has been accompanied by increasing use of mechanized transportation, automobile dependency, a greater prevalence of labor saving technology in the home, and less active recreational pursuits. At least 31% of the world's population does not get sufficient physical exercise. This is true in almost all developed and developing countries, and among children. Some experts refer to sitting as "the new smoking" because of its negative effects on overall health.
In biology, energy homeostasis, or the homeostatic control of energy balance, is a biological process that involves the coordinated homeostatic regulation of food intake and energy expenditure. The human brain, particularly the hypothalamus, plays a central role in regulating energy homeostasis and generating the sense of hunger by integrating a number of biochemical signals that transmit information about energy balance. Fifty percent of the energy from glucose metabolism is immediately converted to heat.
Lack of physical education is the inadequacy of the provision and effectiveness of exercise and physical activity within modern education.
Obesity and walking describes how the locomotion of walking differs between an obese individual and a non-obese individual. The prevalence of obesity is a worldwide problem. In 2007–2008, prevalence rates for obesity among adult American men were approximately 32% and over 35% amongst adult American women. According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 66% of the American population is either overweight or obese and this number is predicted to increase to 75% by 2015. Obesity is linked to health problems such as decreased insulin sensitivity and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, sleep apnea, and joint pain such as osteoarthritis. It is thought that a major factor of obesity is that obese individuals are in a positive energy balance, meaning that they are consuming more calories than they are expending. Humans expend energy through their basal metabolic rate, the thermic effect of food, non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), and exercise. While many treatments for obesity are presented to the public, exercise in the form of walking is an easy, relatively safe activity. Walking may initially result in reduced weight, but adopting the habit over the long term may not result in additional weight loss.
Ergonomics, also known as human factors or human factors engineering (HFE), is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Primary goals of human factors engineering are to reduce human error, increase productivity and system availability, and enhance safety, health and comfort with a specific focus on the interaction between the human and equipment.
The DAPHNE platform, or DAta-as-a-service Platform for Healthy lifestyle and preventive mediciNE, is an ITC ecosystem that uses software platforms, such as HealthTracker, to track individual health data on users or patients so that health service providers can provide personalised guidance remotely to the users or patients in terms of health, lifestyle, exercise and nutrition. It is led by Treelogic SL and partially funded by the European Union 7th Framework Programme for information and communication technology research. The project is listed in the European Commission CORDIS project listings.
The benefits of physical activity range widely. Most types of physical activity improve health and well-being.
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), also known as non-exercise physical activity (NEPA), is energy expenditure during activities that are not part of a structured exercise program. NEAT includes physical activity at the workplace, hobbies, standing instead of sitting, walking around, climbing stairs, doing chores, and fidgeting. Besides differences in body composition, it represents most of the variation in energy expenditure across individuals and populations, accounting from 6-10 percent to as much as 50 percent of energy expenditure in highly active individuals.
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