Relationship Between Patterns and Amount of Occupational Sitting on Metabolic Risk Factors

Abstract

Our research study aims discover if there is a relationship between occupational sedentary behavior and metabolic risk factors despite varying amounts of leisure-time physical activity among low-intensity professions. Current research on sedentary behavior has focused on total sedentary time among US adults, which is beneficial in establishing relationships between metabolic syndrome and sedentary jobs. However, Kim et al. (2015) suggests further research is needed to describe the patterns and duration of sedentary bouts. Further research is also needed to separate the effects of occupational physical activity levels and leisure-time physical activity levels. Data was collected in Fall 2017 and included 13 office workers between the ages of 35-58 years old. The office workers wore two different accelerometers, the ActivPal and Actical, to measure their physical activity levels over the course of 7 consecutive days. Participants underwent a biometric screening that measured height, weight, blood pressure, waist circumference, cholesterol levels, triglycerides, and fasting blood glucose following physical activity monitoring. Data will be analyzed to determine a relationship between physical activity levels and metabolic risk factors among office workers. We anticipate seeing a positive relationship between occupational sedentary time and prevalence of metabolic risk factors.