WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- American researchers found that workers in open office seating had less daytime stress and greater daytime activity levels compared to workers in private offices and cubicles.
The study was published on Monday in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The researchers from University of Arizona evaluated 231 people who work in the U.S. federal office buildings. They wore stress and activity sensors around the clock for three workdays and two nights.
They found that workers in open bench seating arrangements were 32 percent more physically active at the office than those in private offices and 20 percent more active than those in cubicles.
Also, workers who were more physically active at the office had 14 percent less physiological stress outside of the office compared with those with less physical activity at the office, according to the study.
"This research highlights how office design, driven by office workstation type, could be an important health promoting factor," said Esther Sternberg, senior author on the study and research director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.
Office workers are at a particularly high risk for low levels of physical activity and lead to the associated poor health outcomes. According to a 2015 report published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, workplace-related illnesses cost the U.S. economy more than 225 billion U.S. dollars a year.
