Excessive sitting is detrimentally associated with major lifestyle diseases. Attempts at intervening the prolonged sitting time at work offer possibilities for a healthier lifestyle. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of using a seat-cycle (S-C) compared to the office-chair (O-C) in reducing prolonged sitting in the office. Twenty-one (mean age 48 +/- 12.4 years) office workers (10 men and 11 women; mean BMI 24.1 +/- 4.6 kg/m2) volunteered to participate in an 11-week crossover design study. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups -- each started with different conditions: the office-chair (O-C) or the seat-cycle (S-C) intervention for 4 weeks with a 2-week 'washout' period in-between before switching over. Self-reported sleep quality, lower back pain, daytime sleepiness and several anthropometric measurements were obtained under the two conditions. Participants spent on average 5.79 +/- 1.51 hrs sitting in the office, and used the seat-cycle for an average of 22.8 minutes daily at work. Significant improvements (p < 0.05) were noted in a pre-to-post setting for resting systolic blood pressure (124.9 +/- 12.57 mmHg versus 120.5 +/- 13.56 mmHg); sleepiness ratings between 13:00 to 14:00 hrs (1.91 +/- 0.71 versus 1.56 +/- 0.57); lower back pain score (0.95 +/- 1.02 versus 0.57 +/- 0.68) and sleep quality (4.81 +/- 2.16 versus 3.38 +/- 2.04) after the S-C intervention. The use of the S-C provides desk-bound workers a potential way to interrupt prolonged sitting at work and further research is recommended to support such interventions at the workplace.

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