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Workers in open-plan offices are more active and less stressed than those with desks in cubicles or private offices, research suggests. This could be because they make the effort to find privacy to talk away from their desk, the researchers said. The US study used chest sensors to track movement and heart rate in hundreds of people in different buildings over three days.
The potential health benefits should not be ignored, they said.
But they said the study was observational only and factors like location of stairs and lifts could be at play too.
The University of Arizona study, published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine, claims to be the first to measure activity and stress in office workers, rather than asking them in a survey.
It said office workers tended to be a sedentary group compared to other workers, making them more likely to have health issues, including heart problems, tiredness and low mood.
Being less active during working hours has also been linked to greater feelings of stress. In the study of 231 office workers in government buildings in the US, those in open-plan offices - with no partitions between desks - clocked up 32% more physical activity than workers in private offices and 20% more than those in cubicles.
And those who were more active had 14% lower levels of stress outside the office compared to those who were less active.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45247799
(Score: 2) by Kell on Tuesday August 21 2018, @09:36PM (2 children)
And if you're doing anything even mildly maths related (eg. engineering, analysis), then that music is nothing but a distraction. Hell, even the pressure of headphones on my head is sometimes too much when I really have to think deeply. I am blessed as an associate professor to have an office with a noise seal. I'm also on the "steering committee" for the building refurb and everyone at the uni's C level are pushing hard (ie. telling us) to get open plan. The steering committee has been in open rebellion about this, citing study after study that it is a bad (and possibly catastrophic) idea. They flat out told us they are doing it anyway. The steering committee exists entirely to be a scapegoat when selling it to the rank and file.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22 2018, @04:07AM
Think? Deeply? In the office? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
good joke
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday August 22 2018, @12:43PM
I just bought some on Amazon for about $75. They are very comfortable. Very quiet. I have not tried wearing them for hours. So that could be a problem I have not anticipated. They are supposed to run for 30 hours, but I have not put that to the test.
If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, you technically only had one piece.