Is your sedentary lifestyle taking a toll on your health and also hampering your productivity at work? Active workstation like cycling and treadmill may help boost physiological changes in the body than sitting or standing workstations, says a latest study. Sitting for long hours at workplace could increase risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes as well as various cancers, previous studies have claimed. The study that was led by researchers from the Universite de Montreal in Canada revealed that treadmill workstations helped people increase their upper body muscular activity significantly. The team also said that cycling workstations helped improved simple processing task speeds too.
But the upper body effort needed to stabilise gait and posture on a treadmill workstation might affect the fine motor skills such as typing, needed for keyboarding. The findings suggested that both treadmill and cycling workstations boosted the heart rate and energy expenditure while prompting a drop in blood pressure during the working day, as compared to standing workstations, the findings showed.
These workstations happened to lower stress, boost alertness and also reduce boredom more than standing versions. "With workers and the workplace slowly moving towards active workstations, future long-term studies integrating different types of active workstations should be conducted in order to provide additional evidence," said Professor Marie-Eve Mathieu, in the paper published in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal.
"Ultimately, workers and corporations should be able to critically examine the benefits and limitations of each type of workstation and determine which is most appropriate for the worker's specific needs and tasks," Mathieu added.
While understanding the potential impact of active workstations on health and productivity, the researchers reviewed 12 studies (out of 274 initially selected).
Further in the study, they examined the effect on muscles and physiology - average heart rate, blood pressure, energy expenditure-perceived exertion and pain tolerance, and cognitive performance at work - processing speeds, attention and short-term memory.
Researchers said that all types of workstations were associated with a short-term boost in productivity, but cycling and treadmill workstations were also seemingly associated with greater short-term physiological changes.
Eat These Foods For Stress:
Your diet is very closely interlinked with your mood. Increased stress is associated with a host of health problems like weight-gain, irregular sleep and even stroke. Here are some foods that may help you cope with stress and keep your nerves calm:
1. Banana
Bananas are rich in tryptophan, which helps keep you maintain your calm. They are also packed with vitamin C, which is an effective stress-fighting antioxidant.
2. Yogurt
The calm and soothing bowl of yogurt could do wonders to keep stress at bay, all thanks to its high calcium content. The good bacteria present in yogurt also helps keep you healthy and in good mood.
3. Coconut
The medium chain fats present in coconut is known to enhance mood. The scent of the coconut is also known to have a psychological effect which is effective in reducing anxiety and regulate heart rate.
4. Brahmi
One of Ayurveda's most prized herbs is renowned for its stress healing properties. Brahmi could help decrease the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, which can further enhance your mood, concentration power and soothe your nervous system.
(With inputs IANS)