Effects of an Intervention to Reduce Sitting at Work on Arousal, Fatigue, and Mood Among Sedentary Female Employees: A Parallel-Group Randomized Trial

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether individuals who participated in an intervention to reduce sitting at work would report changes in arousal, fatigue, and mood.

Methods: Inactive females with full-time sedentary occupations (N = 49) were randomly assigned to take short, frequent breaks (SBs) or longer, planned breaks (LBs) from sitting each workday for 8 weeks. At baseline and postintervention, participants completed measures of arousal, fatigue, and mood. Within- and between-group changes were examined.

Results: SB participants reduced sitting and reported moderate to large improvements in all affective outcomes except calmness (d = -0.44 to -0.82), whereas effect sizes were small for the LB group (d = 0.01 to -0.28). Only changes in negative affect differed between groups (P = 0.045).

Conclusion: This study suggests that taking short, frequent breaks from sitting may be an effective strategy for improving affective outcomes among sedentary female employees.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02609438.