Objectively Measured Total and Occupational Sedentary Time in Three Work Settings
March
Objectively Measured Total and Occupational Sedentary Time in Three Work Settings
Paula van Dommelen 0 1
Jennifer K. Coffeng 0 1
Hidde P. van der Ploeg 0 1
Allard J. van der Beek 0 1
Cécile R. L. Boot 0 1
Ingrid J. M. Hendriksen 0 1
0 1 Department of Life Style, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO , Leiden , The Netherlands , 2 Department of Public and Occupational Health , EMGO
1 Editor: Olga Y Gorlova, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, UNITED STATES
2 Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center (VUmc) , Amsterdam , The Netherlands, 3
Sedentary behaviour increases the risk for morbidity. Our primary aim is to determine the proportion and factors associated with objectively measured total and occupational sedentary time in three work settings. Secondary aim is to study the proportion of physical activity and prolonged sedentary bouts.
-
OPEN ACCESS
Data Availability Statement: The Data Protection
officer of VU University Medical Center has ethical
restrictions to making our data publicly accessible,
because the data can lead to personally identifiable
health information. The data includes the name of the
company, age, education, being overweight, and
other personal characteristics (see Table 1, final
column n=38). The readers may contact Allard J van
der Beek () to request the
data. The data will be available upon request to all
interested researchers.
Background
Methods
Results
Data were obtained using ActiGraph accelerometers from employees of: 1) a financial ser
vice provider (n = 49 men, 31 women), 2) two research institutes (n = 30 men, 57 women),
and 3) a construction company (n = 38 men). Total (over the whole day) and occupational
sedentary time, physical activity and prolonged sedentary bouts (lasting 30 minutes) were
calculated by work setting. Linear regression analyses were performed to examine general,
health and work-related factors associated with sedentary time.
The employees of the financial service provider and the research institutes spent 76–80%
of their occupational time in sedentary behaviour, 18–20% in light intensity physical activity
and 3–5% in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity. Occupational time in
prolonged sedentary bouts was 27–30%. Total time was less sedentary (64–70%), and had
more light intensity physical activity (26–33%). The employees of the construction company
spent 44% of their occupational time in sedentary behaviour, 49% in light, and 7% in
moderate intensity physical activity, and spent 7% in sedentary bouts. Total time spent in
sedentary behavior was 56%, 40% in light, and 4% in moderate intensity physical behaviour, and
12% in sedentary bouts. For women, low to intermediate education was the only factor that
was negatively associated with occupational sedentary time.
Funding: The authors have no support or funding to
report.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared
that no competing interests exist.
Conclusions
Sedentary behaviour is high among white-collar employees, especially in highly educated women. A relatively small proportion of sedentary time was accrued in sedentary bouts. It is recommended that worksite health promotion efforts should focus on reducing sedentary behaviour through improving light intensity physical activity.
Introduction
Over the past fifty years, work has become increasingly sedentary [
1
]. Sedentary behaviours
(from the Latin word sedere–‘to sit’) refer to those activities (i.e., during commuting, at work,
in the domestic environment and during leisure) that require a very low energy expenditure
( 1.5 Metabolic Equivalent of Task) while sitting or reclining [
2
]. There has been a rapid
accumulation of epidemiological studies to show that time spent sedentary, often independent of
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, is associated with premature mortality, certain cancers
(i.e., colon, endometrial and lung), type 2 diabetes, obesity, and biomarkers of cardio-metabolic
health [
3–12
]. Moreover, prolonged sedentary time or uninterrupted sedentary periods has
been shown to be detrimentally associated with several cardio-metabolic health outcomes
[
11,12
]. A meta-analysis showed that interrupting bouts of sedentary behavior with
light-intensity activity might help control adiposity and postprandial glycemia [
13
]. An expert-based
recommendation rooted in musculoskeletal health, advises to change posture (i.e., from sitting to
standing or walking) after a prolonged sitting period lasting 30 minutes [
14
].
As approximately one third to half of our daily sitting occurs at work, occupational sitting
has important occupational and public health implications [
14–17
]. In a Dutch cross-sectional
survey, employees reported sitting on average seven hours per day, with the highest amount of
sitting in the information technology, banking and insurance sectors and the lowest amount in
the construction, health care and cat (...truncated)