A portable mini-exercise bike used by office staff while working at their desks could help improve the health of those with sedentary occupations, according to US scientists.
The researchers at East Carolina University argued in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that, while sedentary lifestyles were a serious problem as lack of exercise was linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes, small exercise bikes might offer a cheap solution.
The aim of the study was to assess how feasible the use of such bikes in the workplace would be. The authors of the report said: “Portable pedal machines may serve as a tool to reduce sedentary times in the work environment without necessarily influencing the sitting time necessary for performing computer-related tasks.”
The devices, which are unlikely to look anything like our illustration above, included a set of pedals that could be set up in front of most office chairs and used while an individual was seated. Some 18 workers, who were mostly female, overweight, aged around 40 and spent at least 75% of their working day sitting at their desks, used them on an average of 12 out of 20 days.
They pedalled for an average of 23 minutes on each of those days and over distances ranging from a third of a mile to almost 13.5 miles, burning between nine and more than 500 calories per day.
The workers said in a questionnaire that they would use the bikes regularly if their employer offered them one. But the researchers warned that the novelty of having an exercise bike did wear off over the one month trial period and that additional motivation techniques would be required to ensure that staff continued to use them.
