Energy expenditure during common sitting and standing tasks: examining the 1.5 MET definition of sedentary behaviour..pdf (446.58 kB)
Energy expenditure during common sitting and standing tasks: examining the 1.5 MET definition of sedentary behaviour
journal contribution
posted on 2015-08-14, 09:19 authored by Maedeh Mansoubi, Natalie PearsonNatalie Pearson, Stacy ClemesStacy Clemes, Stuart J.H. Biddle, Danielle H. Bodicoat, Keith TolfreyKeith Tolfrey, Charlotte L. Edwardson, Thomas E. YatesBackground
Sedentary behavior is defined as any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure of 1.5 METS or less while in a sitting or reclining posture. This study examines this definition by assessing the energy cost (METs) of common sitting, standing and walking tasks.
Methods
Fifty one adults spent 10 min during each activity in a variety of sitting tasks (watching TV, Playing on the Wii, Playing on the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and typing) and non-sedentary tasks (standing still, walking at 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6 mph). Activities were completed on the same day in a random order following an assessment of resting metabolic rate (RMR). A portable gas analyzer was used to measure oxygen uptake, and data were converted to units of energy expenditure (METs). Results
Average of standardized MET values for screen-based sitting tasks were: 1.33 (SD: 0.24) METS (TV), 1.41 (SD: 0.28) (PSP), and 1.45 (SD: 0.32) (Typing). The more active, yet still seated, games on the Wii yielded an average of 2.06 (SD: 0.5) METS. Standing still yielded an average of 1.59 (SD: 0.37) METs. Walking MET values increased incrementally with speed from 2.17 to 2.99 (SD: 0.5 - 0.69) METs.
Conclusions
The suggested 1.5 MET threshold for sedentary behaviors seems reasonable however some sitting based activities may be classified as non-sedentary. The effect of this on the definition of sedentary behavior and associations with metabolic health needs further investigation.
Funding
The research was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Diet, Lifestyle & Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit, a partnership between the University Hospitals of Leicester, Loughborough University and the University of Leicester.
History
School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
BMC PUBLIC HEALTHVolume
15Pages
? - ? (8)Citation
MANSOUBI, M. ... et al, 2015. Energy expenditure during common sitting and standing tasks: examining the 1.5 MET definition of sedentary behaviour. BMC Public Health, 15, 516.Publisher
Biomed Central / © The AuthorsVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/Publication date
2015Notes
This is an Open Access article published by Biomed Central and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.ISSN
1471-2458Publisher version
Language
- en