LightSit: An Unobtrusive Health-Promoting System for Relaxation and Fitness Microbreaks at Work
Physical inactivity and chronic stress at work increase the risks of developing metabolic disorders, mental illnesses, and musculoskeletal injuries, threatening office workers’ physical and psychological well-being. Although several guidelines and interventions have been developed to preve...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-05-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/9/2162 |
| _version_ | 1811305675201970176 |
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| author | Xipei Ren Bin Yu Yuan Lu Biyong Zhang Jun Hu Aarnout Brombacher |
| author_facet | Xipei Ren Bin Yu Yuan Lu Biyong Zhang Jun Hu Aarnout Brombacher |
| author_sort | Xipei Ren |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Physical inactivity and chronic stress at work increase the risks of developing metabolic disorders, mental illnesses, and musculoskeletal injuries, threatening office workers’ physical and psychological well-being. Although several guidelines and interventions have been developed to prevent theses subhealth issues, their effectiveness and health benefits are largely limited when they cannot match workday contexts. This paper presents LightSit, a health-promoting system that helps people reduce physically inactive behaviors and manage chronic stress at work. LightSit comprises a sensor mat that can be embedded into an office chair for measuring a user’s sitting posture and heart rate variability and a lighting display that is integrated into a monitor stand to present information unobtrusively, facilitating fitness and relaxation exercises during microbreaks. Following the showroom approach, we evaluated LightSit during a public exhibition at Dutch Design Week 2018. During the eight days of the exhibition, we observed more than 500 sessions of experiences with healthy microbreaks using our prototype. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 50 participants who had office-based jobs and had experienced LightSit. Our qualitative findings indicated the potential benefits of LightSit in facilitating health-promoting behaviors during office work. Based on the insights learned from this study, we discuss the implications for future designs of interactive health-promoting systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:29:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f3fde776c6b1473f84b6caec7199a580 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:29:36Z |
| publishDate | 2019-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-f3fde776c6b1473f84b6caec7199a5802022-12-22T02:54:18ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202019-05-01199216210.3390/s19092162s19092162LightSit: An Unobtrusive Health-Promoting System for Relaxation and Fitness Microbreaks at WorkXipei Ren0Bin Yu1Yuan Lu2Biyong Zhang3Jun Hu4Aarnout Brombacher5Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The NetherlandsDepartment of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The NetherlandsDepartment of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The NetherlandsDepartment of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The NetherlandsDepartment of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The NetherlandsDepartment of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The NetherlandsPhysical inactivity and chronic stress at work increase the risks of developing metabolic disorders, mental illnesses, and musculoskeletal injuries, threatening office workers’ physical and psychological well-being. Although several guidelines and interventions have been developed to prevent theses subhealth issues, their effectiveness and health benefits are largely limited when they cannot match workday contexts. This paper presents LightSit, a health-promoting system that helps people reduce physically inactive behaviors and manage chronic stress at work. LightSit comprises a sensor mat that can be embedded into an office chair for measuring a user’s sitting posture and heart rate variability and a lighting display that is integrated into a monitor stand to present information unobtrusively, facilitating fitness and relaxation exercises during microbreaks. Following the showroom approach, we evaluated LightSit during a public exhibition at Dutch Design Week 2018. During the eight days of the exhibition, we observed more than 500 sessions of experiences with healthy microbreaks using our prototype. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 50 participants who had office-based jobs and had experienced LightSit. Our qualitative findings indicated the potential benefits of LightSit in facilitating health-promoting behaviors during office work. Based on the insights learned from this study, we discuss the implications for future designs of interactive health-promoting systems.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/9/2162office vitalitymicrobreaksambient technologyworkplace health promotion |
| spellingShingle | Xipei Ren Bin Yu Yuan Lu Biyong Zhang Jun Hu Aarnout Brombacher LightSit: An Unobtrusive Health-Promoting System for Relaxation and Fitness Microbreaks at Work Sensors office vitality microbreaks ambient technology workplace health promotion |
| title | LightSit: An Unobtrusive Health-Promoting System for Relaxation and Fitness Microbreaks at Work |
| title_full | LightSit: An Unobtrusive Health-Promoting System for Relaxation and Fitness Microbreaks at Work |
| title_fullStr | LightSit: An Unobtrusive Health-Promoting System for Relaxation and Fitness Microbreaks at Work |
| title_full_unstemmed | LightSit: An Unobtrusive Health-Promoting System for Relaxation and Fitness Microbreaks at Work |
| title_short | LightSit: An Unobtrusive Health-Promoting System for Relaxation and Fitness Microbreaks at Work |
| title_sort | lightsit an unobtrusive health promoting system for relaxation and fitness microbreaks at work |
| topic | office vitality microbreaks ambient technology workplace health promotion |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/9/2162 |
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