Effects of Standing Desks and Intermittent Walking on Cognitive Fatigue

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Walking; Sitting Position; Overexertion From Maintaining Prolonged Standing Position
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Performance of cognitive tasks

Detailed Description

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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 31
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Potsdam, New York, United States, 13699
      • Clarkson University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18-45 years in age

Exclusion Criteria:

• Use of any prescription medications for any chronic conditions
• current acute illness
• chronic illnesses
• color blindness
• inability to stand for 90 minutes

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Sitting desk; Participants were asked to perform all tasks in a sitting condition	Behavioral: Performance of cognitive tasks; Participants performed a series of cognitive tasks on all 3 days
Experimental: Standing desk; Participants were asked to perform all tasks while standing	Behavioral: Performance of cognitive tasks; Participants performed a series of cognitive tasks on all 3 days
Experimental: Intermittent walking; Participants were asked to walk for 2 minutes at a self-selected pace after 28 minutes of performing tasks while seated.	Behavioral: Performance of cognitive tasks; Participants performed a series of cognitive tasks on all 3 days

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Profile of Mood Survey- Short Form Vigor on a 0 to 20 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the self-reported Profile of Mood Survey-Short Form participants reported their moods on the vigor scale of the POMS-SF	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Profile of Mood Survey- Short Form Fatigue on a 0 to 20 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the self-reported Profile of Mood Survey-Short Form participants reported their moods on the fatigue scale of the POMS-SF	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Profile of Mood Survey- Short Form Tension on a 0 to 20 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the self-reported Profile of Mood Survey-Short Form participants reported their moods on the tension scale of the POMS-SF	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Profile of Mood Survey- Short Form Depression on a 0 to 20 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the self-reported Profile of Mood Survey-Short Form participants reported their moods on the depression scale of the POMS-SF	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Profile of Mood Survey- Short Form Anger on a 0 to 20 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the self-reported Profile of Mood Survey-Short Form participants reported their moods on the anger scale of the POMS-SF	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Changes on the Profile of Mood Survey- Short Form Confusion on a -4 to 16 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the self-reported Profile of Mood Survey-Short Form participants reported their moods on the confusion scale of the POMS-SF	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Changes in state mental energy were measured on a 0 to 300 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the state mental and physical energy and fatigue scale participants reported their state mental energy.	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Changes in state mental fatigue were measured on a 0 to 300 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the state mental and physical energy and fatigue scale participants reported their state mental fatigue.	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Changes in state physical fatigue were measured on a 0 to 300 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the state mental and physical energy and fatigue scale participants reported their state physical fatigue.	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes
Changes in state physical energy were measured on a 0 to 300 scale from baseline to the end of the study	Using the state mental and physical energy and fatigue scale participants reported their state physical energy.	28 minutes, 58 minutes, 88 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Performance on the concentration task grid	A 100 square grid was used as a measure of concentration. The grid is arranged in a 10x10 square with each square containing a two-digit number (from 00 to 99) which are randomly placed in the center of each of the squares. Participants were asked to mark off as many consecutive numbers as possible starting from 00 within a one-minute pe-riod, by tapping on the desired square	15 minutes, 45 minutes, 75 minutes
Performance on the continuous performance task	Participants monitored a continuous series of letters (A-Z; Tahoma Regular font, size 20 point) presented on the screen for 1000ms and were asked to respond to the detection of the letter "X" only when preceded by the letter "A" by tapping on the screen or press-ing the "Space" key.	6 minute, 36 minutes, 66 minutes
Performance on the distractor task	Identify the correct responses on the distractor tasks	16 minutes, 46 minutes, 76 minutes
Performance on the Erikson Flanker task	During this task participants were first presented with a white fixation cross for 200ms, followed immediately by five equally sized arrows arranged in a 10.5cm horizontal ar-ray for 800ms. Participants were instructed to attend to the central arrow and ignore the four flankers. Participants were asked to press the left key if the central arrow was fac-ing left and the right arrow if the central arrow was pointed to the right. If all arrows were pointing the same direction (e.g. "< < < < <") then the trial was considered con-gruent. However, if the central arrow was pointing the opposite direction (e.g. "> > < > >") then the trial was considered incongruent. Subjects were presented with a 30 con-gruent and 30 incongruent trials in random order.	19 minutes, 49 minutes, 79 minutes
Performance on the Paced Visual Serial Addition Task	Participants were asked to start at the number 0 and add the digit shown on the screen (0-9). Participants were then asked to remember the previous number and add the next digit presented on the screen and type their responses on the keypad.	17 minutes, 47 minutes, 77 minutes
Performance on the serial subtraction three task	Participants were asked to silently subtract backwards in threes from a ran-dom number starting between 800 and 999 that was presented on the iPad screen	2 minutes, 32 minutes, 62 minutes
Performance on the serial subtraction seven task	Participants were asked to silently subtract backwards in sevens from a ran-dom number starting between 800 and 999 that was presented on the iPad screen	4 minutes, 34 minutes, 64 minutes
Performance on the Rapid Visual Input Processing Task	Participants were required to monitor a continuous series of digits (1-9; Tahoma Regu-lar font, size 20point) presented on the screen every 1000ms. The participants were given a primary, secondary, and tertiary task. The participant's primary task was to detect the presentation of three consecutive odd digits that were in ascending order (e.g. 3-7-9), the secondary task was to detect three consecutive even digits that were in ascending order (e.g. 2-4-8), and the tertiary task was to identify the number 6 when it was presented on the screen.	14 minutes, 44 minutes, 74 minutes
Performance on the Stroops task	Participants were presented words (Tahoma font, 20point), every 1000ms on a screen spelling the names of colors (i.e. blue, yellow, red, green), which were either congru-ent (words presented in the same color as the color they were spelling out such as the RED presented in red font) or incongruent (words presented in a color different from the color that they spelled out such as the word RED spelled in green font). Participants were presented with all five options of colors used in this test (red, green, yellow, black, and blue) and asked to press the color of the text (font color) and not the word presented on the screen. There were 30 congruent and 30 incongruent tasks presented in random order and participants were scored on the number of correct responses, number of incorrect responses, and the average reaction time for correct responses. Each test was scored separately for both congruent and incongruent tasks	18 minutes, 48 minutes, 78 minutes
Performance on the Perceptual Fast Counting Task	Participants were asked to press the number key that qualified with the number of dots presented on the screen. Each dot was approximately 0.5cm in diameter and the num-ber of dots on the screen ranged from 4 to 7. The number of dots was randomized across each trial and trials lasted 1 minute. Participants were scored based on number of correct responses, average reaction time for each correct response and the total num-ber of trials conducted in one minute	20 minutes, 50 minutes, 80 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Clarkson University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ali Boolani, PhD, Clarkson University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 15, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): December 15, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 4, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 4, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): May 8, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 8, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 4, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 18-49.1

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Due to IRB restrictions no individual data will be shared with other researchers. All data will be reported as aggregate.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No