The Effect of Standing Desks on Cognitive Performance in Adolescents

NCT04327414 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: UP4BRAINS
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 125
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Sitting or sedentary behavior is associated with several adverse health outcomes such as overweight and obesity, diabetes type 2,... independent of physical activity levels. This evidence is clear in adults, however also in adolescents the health effects can become apparent (e.g. development of overweight, reduced fitness,...). Therefore it is important to develop interventions aiming to reduce sedentary behavior in adolescents. Adolescents are sedentary for more than 60% of the day, of wich a large part is spent at school as during school hours pupils usually have to sit at their desk. Therefore secondary schools serve as an ideal setting to target sitting behavior. Structural environmental changes (in the classroom), e.g. introducing standing desks, can be used as a possible strategy. It is important to objectively evaluate the effect of the intervention on sedentary behavior. Next to evaluating the effect on behavior, studies also recommend to evaluate the effect on cognitive performance, as this is the particular interest of schools and their staff. The primary aim of this project is therefore to investigate the effect of implementing standing desks on adolescents' cognitive function, more specifically on memory, reasoning, verbal ability and concentration. In addition, the investigators will evaluate the effect of implementing standing desks on adolescents' sitting and standing time, measured by Axivity accelerometers in the entire sample. Finally, the investigators will also collect information about sleeping behavior to investigate the association with cognitive performance. This will be tested via a controlled trial with a pre- and post-test design including an intervention and control group. Based on previous research studies, the hypothesis is that adolescents from the intervention group will improve their cognitive function and standing time and reduce their sitting time, whereas no changes are expected to be found for adolescents from the control group. Finally, it is expected that a more healthy sleeping behavior is associated with better cognitive performance.

Conditions

Sedentary Behavior

Keywords

Adolescent; Classroom; Standing desk; Sitting; Standing; Cognition; Cognitive function; Cognitive performance; Sleep; Sleep quality; Sleep duration

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Change in score on the 'Monkey Ladder' task (Cambridge Brain Sciences test battery)

  Task assessing visuospatial working memory

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

• Change in score on the 'Spatial Span' task (Cambridge Brain Sciences test battery)

  Task assessing spatial short term memory

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

• Change in score on the 'Token Search' task (Cambridge Brain Sciences test battery)

  Task assessing working memory

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

• Change in score on the 'Spatial Planning' task (Cambridge Brain Sciences test battery)

  Task assessing planning

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

• Change in score on the 'Digit Span' task (Cambridge Brain Sciences test battery)

  Task assessing verbal short term memory

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

• Change in score on the 'Double Trouble' task (Cambridge Brain Sciences test battery)

  Task assessing response inhibition

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Change in sitting and standing time

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements. The Axivity monitor will be worn during 4 to 5 days.

• Change in self-reported sitting time at school (included in the questionnaire)

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

• Change in self-reported number of breaks from sitting time per school hour (included in the questionnaire)

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

• Change in potential determinants/correlates related to breaking up sitting time (included in the questionnaire)

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

• Sleep quality (included in the questionnaire)

  Assessed pre-intervention and immediately after the intervention, with an average of 4 months between both measurements.

Study Arms (2)

Intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

Implementation of standing desks in classroom. To ensure that adolescents will spend sufficient time at the standing desks, 1/3 to half of the classroom will be provided with standing desks. The school will be asked to actually replace some traditional desks with these standing desks, instead of just adding standing desks to the classroom set-up to ensure as much as possible that the desks are being continuously used throughout the intervention period.

Behavioral: Intervention group

Control group

NO INTERVENTION

No implementation of standing desks in classroom.

Interventions

Intervention group BEHAVIORAL

Standing desks

Intervention group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 11 Years - 16 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• A 7th or 8th Grade class
• General secondary education
• Spending at least 11 lessons hours per week in one classroom

You may not qualify if:

• Technical or vocational secondary education

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Ghent: lead

Study Sites (1)

Ghent University

Ghent, East Flanders, 9000, Belgium

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Verloigne M, Ridgers ND, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Cardon G. Effect and process evaluation of implementing standing desks in primary and secondary schools in Belgium: a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2018 Sep 27;15(1):94. doi: 10.1186/s12966-018-0726-9.

  PMID: 30261883 BACKGROUND

• Van Oeckel V, Deforche B, Miatton M, Poppe L, Verloigne M. Pupils' and teachers' experiences with implementing standing desks in secondary schools in Belgium. Prev Med Rep. 2025 Oct 21;60:103285. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2025.103285. eCollection 2025 Dec.

  PMID: 41209664 DERIVED

• Van Oeckel V, Poppe L, Deforche B, Brondeel R, Miatton M, Verloigne M. Associations of habitual sedentary time with executive functioning and short-term memory in 7th and 8th grade adolescents. BMC Public Health. 2024 Feb 16;24(1):495. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18014-x.

  PMID: 38365719 DERIVED

• Verloigne M, Van Oeckel V, Brondeel R, Poppe L. Bidirectional associations between sedentary time and sleep duration among 12- to 14-year-old adolescents. BMC Public Health. 2021 Sep 15;21(1):1673. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11694-9.

  PMID: 34521376 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Sedentary Behavior; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior; Sleep Disorders, Intrinsic; Dyssomnias; Sleep Wake Disorders; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Maïté Verloigne

  University Ghent

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Controlled trial: December-January 2020: Recruitment of six secondary schools with immediate allocation to the intervention or control condition and collecting informed consents. February 2020: Pre-test data collection, installing standing desks in intervention schools. March 2020: Interruption of the study due to COVID-19 pandemic. September-October 2020: Recruitment of six new classes and collecting informed consents, pre-test data collection. November-December 2020: Post-test data collection.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 11, 2020
• First Posted: March 31, 2020
• Study Start: February 10, 2020
• Primary Completion: December 4, 2020
• Study Completion: December 4, 2020
• Last Updated: January 8, 2021

Record last verified: 2020-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: Will be published together with publication of the article(s).
• Access Criteria: Dependent on journal: Probably depositing into data repositories or by publishing the data and files as supplementary information in the journal.

Locations

BE (1)