Task type, preference, and occupation affect standing desk utilization in office workers.

BACKGROUND: Adjustable height sit-stand desks are becoming the norm in many workplaces. It is not known how task type, worker preference, and occupation impact utilization of the adjustable height feature. OBJECTIVE: This survey-based study aimed to determine how task type, preference and occupation affect office workers' sitting and standing behaviors at work. METHODS: Office workers (n = 123) from different occupations completed surveys about actual and preferred positions (sit, stand, either/both) during 39 common tasks from 4 different categories, as well as barriers to use. Each position was analyzed by task type, behavior, and occupation. RESULTS: There were differences between actual and preferred behavior for each position, with participants sitting more and standing less than preferred across all task categories. There were differences between task categories with participants sitting less for generative and routine, and standing more for communication tasks. The highest rates of either/both responses were for routine tasks. Engineers reported the lowest standing rates, and also indicated standing more than preferred. Information Tech and Engineering had the highest either/both responses. Finance reported the highest sitting rates. Personal, task-based and workplace limitations were cited as barriers to preferred use. CONCLUSION: Office workers would prefer to stand more at work. Occupation-specific needs and preferences, as well as types of tasks should be considered when providing workplace standing options.

Office-workers maintain decreased workplace sitting time long-term following participation in a sit-stand desk intervention study.

Previous studies report decreased workplace sitting time when standing desk interventions are provided to office workers. It is unclear whether decreased sedentary behaviours are maintained long-term. This was a follow-up to a previous intervention study to investigate whether observed sitting time decreases of 30-50% were sustained 12-24 months later. A secondary aim was to compare overall physical activity between office workers with and without standing desks. Although sitting time increased over the follow-up period, this did not reach significance and reductions in workplace sitting remained significantly lower (23.5% decrease) from baseline values. There were no differences in the physical activity measures between workers with and without access to standing desks, although this was a small sample size and further research is needed. Individuals who are motivated to try standing desks at work can benefit through decreased sitting time long-term, however this may not extend to increased overall physical activity levels. Practitioner summary: Providing standing desk options to office-based employees can have long-lasting impacts with reducing sitting time at work. Office workers who choose to stand at work do not appear to compensate with overall activity level reduction outside of work.Abbreviations: LBP: low back pain; OSPAQ: occupational sitting and physical activity questionnaire; VAS: visual analog scale; ANOVA: analysis of variance; BMI: body mass index; ICC: intraclass correlation coefficient.

Greenhouse gas mitigation on marginal land: a quantitative review of the relative benefits of forest recovery versus biofuel production.

Decisions concerning future land-use/land cover change stand at the forefront of ongoing debates on how to best mitigate climate change. In this study, we compare the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation value over a 30-year time frame for a range of forest recovery and biofuel production scenarios on abandoned agricultural land. Carbon sequestration in recovering forests is estimated based on a statistical analysis of tropical and temperate studies on marginal land. GHGs offset by biofuel production are analyzed for five different production pathways. We find that forest recovery is superior to low-yielding biofuel production scenarios such as oil palm and corn. Biofuel production scenarios with high yields, such as sugarcane or high-yielding energy grasses, can be comparable or superior to natural forest succession and to reforestation in some cases. This result stands in contrast to previous research suggesting that restoring degraded ecosystems to their native state is generally superior to agricultural production in terms of GHG mitigation. Further work is needed on carbon stock changes in forests, soil carbon dynamics, and bioenergy crop production on degraded/abandoned agricultural land. This finding also emphasizes the need to consider the full range of social, economic, and ecological consequences of land-use policies.