Being sedentary is a behavior that is practiced far too often by individuals. This is worrisome because evidence suggests that uninterrupted periods of sitting can be harmful to one’s health. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a cycling workstation, the FitDesk, on work performance, blood pressure, heart rate, and the energy expenditure of college students. It was hypothesized that pedaling with the FitDesk would not have an effect on college students’ typing performance, reading comprehension, and attention/information processing when compared to those sitting at the FitDesk. In addition, an acute reduction in blood pressure, increase in heart rate, and increase in energy expenditure was anticipated in those pedaling with the FitDesk. Twenty sedentary college students randomly assigned to complete a 30-min. pedaling condition and a 30- min. sitting condition using the FitDesk while performing three randomized tasks: a reading comprehension task, typing task, and an attention/information processing task. Energy expenditure and heart rate were assessed during each trial. Blood pressure was measured prior to the start of each trial and at the end of each trial. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in reading comprehension, typing performance, and attention/information processing tasks between the pedaling and sitting conditions. Heart rate, blood pressure, and energy expenditure significantly increased in the pedaling condition when compared to sitting condition. It was concluded that students could pedal with FitDesk and not influence work performance while increasing their energy expenditure, which may help with weight loss and reducing sedentary behavior
