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Background: Prolonged sitting is associated with increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Occupational sitting accounts for up to 50 hours per week for employees. This pilot study assessed 1) the acceptability of stair climbing as an interruption to sitting throughout working hours, 2) provide preliminary data of the effects on glucose and lipid profiles. Methods: Participants (n = 16) were randomised to intervention and control groups. For the intervention, a continuous 4-floor stair climb and descent at self-selected pace was performed eight times.day-1 spread evenly over the working day. A prompt to climb was presented on the participant’s computer 8-times.day-1. A log sheet recorded floors climbed in response to each prompt and total weekly steps were measured with pedometers. Blood samples were collected pre and post intervention to test effects on fasting glucose and OGTT, triglycerides, and total (TC), LDL and HDL cholesterol. Experimental participants were interviewed at the end of the study. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare the median changes (pre-post) of the dependent variables. Results: On average, the experimental group climbed 121 floors.week-1 when prompted. There were significant reductions in fasting blood glucose, TC and LDL, as well as the derived measures of ‘bad’ cholesterol and the TC/HDL ratio in the experimental group. Post-experimental interviews indicated that the interruption to sitting was well tolerated. Conclusion: Prompted stair climbing activity had impacts on health outcomes and was found acceptable to employees at work.Trial registration: Ethics for this study was approved by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Ethical Review Committee, University of Birmingham with ethics reference number ERN_15_0491. |
