Are Biking Desks the New Treadmill Desks?

A new study shows that using a pedaling device at your desk can help you be more active at work without leaving your seat.
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The news keeps telling us that we’re sitting too much, particularly at work, and that it’s really hurting our health. As word has spread, solutions to our sedentary sickness have popped up, namely the treadmill desk. But according to ScienceDaily, there’s a new device out there that could change the active-desk game: How would you feel about pedaling — like bike pedaling — at your desk?

In a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers at the University of Iowa gave 27 office employees a portable pedaling device to put under their desks for a trial period of 16 weeks. The researchers were pleasantly surprised to find that people who would ordinarily sit all day became regularly active without leaving their seats, with daily pedal time averaging 50 minutes per day. Better yet, the more people pedaled, the more likely they were to report weight loss, improved concentration, and fewer sick days. And, perhaps most importantly, pedaling at work seems to be convenient and sustainable — most people in the study chose to keep their pedals after the 16 weeks were up.

So will these desk pedals fix all of our sitting woes? No way to know yet, but I definitely feel the rumblings of a new trend.

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