Inter-individual Differences in the Effects of Sitting Desks, Standing Desks and Intermittent Walking on Cognitive Task Performance and Moods
Inter-individual Differences in the Effects of Sitting Desks, Standing Desks and Intermittent Walking on Cognitive Task Performance and Moods
The objective of this randomized-controlled crossover design was to identify inter-individual responses to the use of sitting desks, standing desks and two minutes of walking after twenty-eight minutes of sitting on the performance of cognitive tasks and moods in healthy undergraduate and graduate students. Participants were randomly assigned to an order of interventions and were asked to perform 26 minutes of cognitive tasks followed by completing 2 minutes of surveys where they were asked about their moods. Following the 28 minute cognitive battery participants were given a 2 minute break. In the seated condition participants performed all tasks on a seated desk and had to remain seated for their 2 minute break. In the standing condition participants performed the entire battery standing and had to remain standing for the 2 minute break. In the intermittent walking condition, participants performed all tasks in a seated condition and for their 2 minute break, participants were asked to walk for 2 minutes at a pace that they felt comfortable.
The current protocol has been used by Boolani, et al, 2017 to induce cognitive fatigue in college age individuals between the ages of 18-45 to test the effectiveness of cocoa and caffeinated cocoa in attenuating fatigue. It is our goal to explore the effects of standing desks as well as intermittent walking during cognitively fatiguing tasks and determine whether their use can attenuate mental fatigue in individuals between the ages of 18-45 years while performing cognitively challenging tasks.
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