A good beginning: Sit-stand workstations in the primary school classroom

Recent studies indicate that stand-biased classroom furniture leads to a reduction in sedentary time, an increase in physical activity, and, hence a an increase in energy expenditure. Such furniture does not seem to result in adverse effects in classroom behaviour and learning. However, to date, all reported studies had durations shorter than a full academic year, and focused on only a small number of factors that are affected by physical (in)activity. Therefore, in this controlled study with a repeated measures design, primary school children with hand without stand-biased classroom furniture will be followed for three years. That is, at an elementary school in Leiden, The Netherlands, one group (grade 5 in the Dutch system; 8-10 years old) will receive sit-stand workstations in their classroom. The teacher of this group will also receive a sit-stand workstation. The children in this group will be invited and motivated to reduce sedentary time. They will not be ordered or obligated to stand more than otherwise would happen. The effect of the sit-stand workstations (and the rolmodel the teacher will be) in reducing sedentary time will be investigated with a number of outcome measures related to physical (in)activity, academic achievement, physical fitness, physiological, cognitive, and psychological measures, sleep, stool, and satisfaction with the school environment. All outcomes will be compared between the intervention group (i.e., the group with sit-stand workstations; approximately 28 children) and a control group (i.e., a similar age group with regular workstations; approximately 28 children). Both groups will be followed for three years. At two time points each year, all outcomes will be measured.

Given the fact that behavior is for the largest part driven by the context that we live in, sit-stand workstations in the classroom may invite and seduce children to be more active and reduce sedentary time at school. If sit-stand workstations induce a more active lifestyle, long-term health benefits may also be expected. We hypothesize that a classroom furniture induced active lifestyle will result in benefits for physical fitness, fitness-related variables, cognitive and academic performance, sleep, stool, and quality of life in primary school children.

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The children in the intervention group (approximately 28; 8-10 years old) will receive sit-stand workstations in their classroom. They will keep these for three years. Their teacher will also receive a sit-stand workstation. The children are invited and motivated to reduce sedentary time at school. They are not ordered or obligated to stand more than would normally happen in classrooms without sit-stand workstations.
The children in the control group (approximately 28; 8-10 years old) will use regular (sit) workstations and receive regular treatment.