Pilot Study of Impact of a Pedal Desk on Postprandial Responses in Sedentary Workers

Abstract

Physical inactivity has been linked to rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease through insulin resistance and other mechanisms. Although sedentary workplace environments have unintentionally contributed to the risk for chronic diseases, innovations in the workplace environment could potentially rectify this public and occupational health problem.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of light-intensity physical activity using a pedal desk (PD) compared with a standard desk (STD) in a pilot study on postprandial metabolic responses and work skills.

Methods: Twelve overweight/obese full-time sedentary office workers (six men and six women; body mass index, 28.7 ± 3.6 kg·m) were tested in two conditions: 1) PD, pedaling at self-selected light-intensity pace for 2 h and 2) STD, remaining seated for 2 h in a conventional workstation setup while performing scripted computer-based work tasks. Blood samples were analyzed for plasma glucose, insulin, and free-fatty acids in response to a standardized meal and work skills were evaluated. Paired samples t-tests were used to examine the differences in metabolic responses and work performance tasks between the conditions.

Results: Pedal desk use required significantly less insulin to maintain glucose concentrations compared with STD condition (peak insulin concentration, 42.1 μU·mL vs 66.9 μU·mL; P = 0.03; and area under the curve, 302.6 vs 441.8 μU·min·mL; P < 0.001). No significant changes in plasma glucose and free-fatty acid concentrations were observed at any timepoints (all P > 0.05). In addition, pedaling at a self-paced rate caused no adverse effects on work skills (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: The PD resulted in lower postmeal insulin concentrations without an overall negative impact on work skills. Thus, the PD could have the potential to achieve public and occupational health goals in sedentary work environments.

Figure 1

Study protocol. STD = standard desk; PD = pedal desk. M1 represents the time point of the measurement 1 including tests for Stroop task and motor speed and accuracy. M2 represents the time point of measurement 2 including tests for typing and reading comprehension.

Figure 2

The effect of PD and STD conditions on postprandial blood glucose concentration (A); glucose AUC (B); postprandial blood insulin concentration (C); insulin AUC (D); postprandial blood free fatty acid concentrations (E); free fatty acid AUC (F). Data are presented as means ± standard error of the mean. PD = pedal desk; STD = standard desk. * represents a significant difference between the conditions at p < 0.05.