Vries, R. de (2016) Working in an Office Without Chairs; What are the Effects on Energy Expenditure? thesis, Human Movement Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Background Inspired by findings that prolonged sitting has hazardous effects on health, Rietveld Architecture Art Affordances (RAAAF) and visual artist Barbara Visser have designed an office of the future without chairs and desks. In the new office landscape, which they call “The End of Sitting”, users are being invited to work in non-sitting postures. Objective In the present study, we investigated the effects of several non-sitting postures on the energy expenditure levels of the office workers and compared it with working in the more conventional sitting and standing workstations. Energy expenditure levels were measured in 24 participants using the indirect calorimetry method, while they were doing office work for 10 minutes in each of the six working postures (i.e. four workstations from The End of Sitting, a standing workstation and a sitting workstation). Besides, we investigated the perceived comfort and stability of the participants’ postures. Results Energy expenditure increased in most workstations from The End of Sitting compared to sitting, and were comparable with the energy expenditure during standing. No relationship was found between the stability of the participants’ posture and energy expenditure. Comfort decreased for most workstations, but inter-individual differences were high. Conclusion The small increase in energy expenditure found in this study concludes that The End of Sitting may have a positive effect on health of office workers. Keywords: The End of Sitting, Energy expenditure, posture stability, comfort
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Caljouw, dr. S.R. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 04 May 2022 08:11 |
| Last Modified: | 04 May 2022 08:11 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3204 |
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