Walk towards a healthy work environment

Studies have found that walking workstations, regardless of a person's exercise habits or body mass index (BMI), had significant benefits, even if one didn't exercise or were overweight, they would experience both short-term physical and psychological benefits.

A new study has revealed that walking workstations would improve physical and mental health, while building a healthier workplace.

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Department of Psychology in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have found that walking workstations, regardless of a person's exercise habits or body mass index (BMI), had significant benefits, even if one didn't exercise or were overweight, they would experience both short-term physical and psychological benefits.

A sample of 180 participants had been evaluated on boredom, task satisfaction, stress, arousal, and performance while completing work-related computer tasks across four randomly assigned workstations: seated, standing, cycling or walking.

With growing concerns regarding obesity in the United States, Michael Sliter, assistant professor of psychology, has said that the study would encourage employers to examine methods to assist workers in healthy living.

The paper was published online in the American Psychological Association's Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.