Effect of work-related sedentary time on overall health profile in active vs. inactive office workers

Journal article


Genin, Pauline M., Dessenne, Pascal, Finaud, Julien, Pereira, Bruno, Dutheil, Frederic, Thivel, David and Duclos, Martine. (2018). Effect of work-related sedentary time on overall health profile in active vs. inactive office workers. Frontiers in Public Health. 6, p. Article 279. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00279
AuthorsGenin, Pauline M., Dessenne, Pascal, Finaud, Julien, Pereira, Bruno, Dutheil, Frederic, Thivel, David and Duclos, Martine
Abstract

Objective: While public health strategies are developed to fight sedentary behaviors and promote physical activity, some professional activities, and especially tertiary ones, have been pointed out for their highly sedentary nature. Although workplace physical activity programs are increasingly proposed by companies to their employees in order to increase their physical activity levels, sitting and screen time remain extremely high. The main aim of this work was to compare health indicators between active and inactive tertiary employees with similar high levels of sedentariness. Secondly, we questioned the effects of a 5-month workplace physical activity program on overall health indicators among initially active and inactive tertiary employees.

Methods: Anthropometric measurements, body composition (bio-impedance), physical fitness (cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal fitness) and health-related quality of life and perception of health status (self-reported questionnaires) were assessed among 193 active and inactive tertiary employees before (T0) and after a 5-month workplace physical activity intervention (T1), composed of 2 physical sessions per week.

Results: Significant improvements were found in performance of push-ups (p < 0.001), back muscle strength (p < 0.001) fat mass (p < 0.01) and waist circumference (p < 0.05) in active compared with inactive employees both at baseline and at the end of the program. Health perception (p < 0.001) was significantly different between groups at T0 but not at T1. However, no significant difference was observed for fat-free mass, BMI, workplace well-being and lower and upper limbs muscle strength. The variations between T0 and T1 demonstrate that, while all the studied parameters progressed positively during the 5-month program, health perception (p < 0.001), back muscle strength (p < 0.05) and BMI (tendency) showed a significantly higher progression in the inactive compared with the active group.

Conclusion: Health indicators might not be improved among active tertiary employees compared with inactive ones, which might be due to the high level of sedentariness characterizing their occupational task.Structured on-site physical activity programs can improve health in both initially active and inactive employees.

Keywordstertiary employees; physical activity; sedentariness; health; fitness
Year2018
JournalFrontiers in Public Health
Journal citation6, p. Article 279
PublisherFrontiers Research Foundation
ISSN2296-2565
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00279
PubMed ID30327763
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85051331266
PubMed Central IDPMC6174317
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range1-8
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online01 Oct 2018
Publication process dates
Accepted10 Sep 2018
Deposited19 Aug 2022
Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/8y224/effect-of-work-related-sedentary-time-on-overall-health-profile-in-active-vs-inactive-office-workers

Download files


Publisher's version
OA_Genin_2018_Effect_of_work_related_sedentary_time.pdf
License: CC BY 4.0
File access level: Open

  • 68
    total views
  • 32
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

The forgotten health-care occupations at risk of burnout-a burnout, job demand-control-support, and effort-reward imbalance survey
Sérole, Claire, Auclair, Candy, Prunet, Denis, Charkhabi, Morteza, Lesage, François-Xavier, Baker, Julien S., Mermillod, Martial, Gerbaud, Laurent and Dutheil, Frédéric. (2021). The forgotten health-care occupations at risk of burnout-a burnout, job demand-control-support, and effort-reward imbalance survey. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 63(7), pp. 416-425. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000002235
Benefits from one session of deep and slow breathing on vagal tone and anxiety in young and older adults
Magnon, Valentin, Dutheil, Frédéric and Vallet, Guillaume T.. (2021). Benefits from one session of deep and slow breathing on vagal tone and anxiety in young and older adults. Scientific Reports. 11(1), p. Article 19267. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98736-9
Heart rate variability as a possible predictor of sport performance in junior rhythmic gymnastics
Urzeala, Constanta, Bota, Aura, Serbanoiu, Sorin, Mezei, Mariana, Dutheil, Frederic and Courteix, Daniel. (2020). Heart rate variability as a possible predictor of sport performance in junior rhythmic gymnastics. Isokinetics and Exercise Science. 28(2), pp. 171-179. https://doi.org/10.3233/IES-192222