Time to Pop Everyone’s Office Stability Balls

There is a trend for many of us in today’s world to make a living by “knowledge work”. We work at a computer, analyze trends, produce meaningful documents, and click send. Work in the modern office environment looks a lot different than what work looked like 100 years ago. There are only but a few postures that knowledge workers are in each day: standing, sitting, and even walking (with a treadmill desk). When writing this blog, I spend several hours in front of a computer screen, but I try to stand as much as I can at standing workstation. I previously discussed the effects of too much sitting in a previous post: Exercise Isn’t Everything.

Everyday we often face the danger of sitting in prolonged, static positions at work. What should we do about it? Some people have gone the standing desk or treadmill disk route. Others have attempted the “active” or “dynamic” sitting option. You have seen it.

Some readers may be sitting on a stability ball right now, can see a coworker bouncing up and down, or have had the thought of buying one for their office in the past. The idea of being more “active” by sitting on an unstable surface for a long time sounds great. Common sales ads make sitting on stability ball sound promising: your core is more engaged, you are constantly using muscles you might not otherwise be using, muscles are always firing! Who wouldn’t want that? However, a recent review shows us that the perceived benefits of sitting on a stability ball at the office, is just that, a perception…but how can that be?!?!

An article titled “Unstable Sitting in the Workplace—Are There Physical Activity Benefits?” released in June 2015 reviewed several studies that investigated the effects of sitting on a stability ball compared to a flat stool and a typical cushioned office chair. The chairs looked similar to these:

The paper answered two common misconceptions about sitting on a ball:

Misconception 1: You are working more core muscles when sitting on a ball

• What the study found: There was no difference between sitting on a stability ball versus sitting on stool without a back.
• What this means: Sitting on a ball doesn’t make you more “active” at work while sitting
• Other notes: The authors noted that several other studies found the same thing.

Misconception 2: You burn more calories sitting on a ball compared to another type of chair

• What the study found: There was only a slight increase in calories burned (an additional 4.1 calories/hour)
• What this means: Sitting on a ball doesn’t make you as fit as you think it does.
• Other notes: This is an effective strategy given the risks associated with too much sitting.

To summarize these findings, there is essentially no benefit to the core when sitting on a stability ball compared to sitting on a stool. Now, it is worth mentioning that leg activity was not accounted for. If you sit on a stability ball at work, you may move your legs more often. Looking purely at truck activation (core muscles), benefits have not been found. The authors noted that there is a risk of trips and falls when using a ball as office furniture. This may be important for office managers to consider when overseeing the well-being of an entire office. The authors concluded with the following statement:

“Until studies demonstrate more conclusive benefits, the practice of stability ball sitting should be viewed skeptically as a general workplace recommendation in the interest of health or wellness.”

The idea of sitting on a ball for 8 hours and getting 6-pack abs is romantic, but not a reality. If you do the math, even if you sit on a ball for 8-consecutive hours (highly unlikely), you will only burn an additional 33 calories.

If you are a calorie counter, this can be quickly undone only eating 1 1/2 Hershey Kisses from the company candy jar. Alternatively, standing for an hour burns 50 calories per hour (and better for you). Take your pick.

This study highlights what many have succumbed to in the modern marketplace. You can easily search the web and find companies that will sell you a stability ball for work and tell us of the “potential” benefits, help “tone” your abs, and improve your posture. This chair sounds like a wonder drug. These ideas are nice, but the current evidence is telling us a different story.

Being fit may seem elusive to some, but can be remedied with the right motivation and set of consequences. Placing hope in one product to solve your fitness woes may be easy, but dangerous if this is the only “exercise” one might engage in all day (I say dangerous because someone might think that sitting on a ball all day will improve their health dramatically and not do anything else). Replacing hours on a stability ball with a cleaner diet, resistance training, or 10,000 steps/day will probably help you reach your fitness goals quicker than sitting on a ball all day.

What should our behavioral focus be?

Don’t get me wrong, bouncing on a ball is fun. If bouncing on a ball makes work enjoyable or adds a variety to your day, go for it! However, saying that you are working on your core all day may be short-sighted. Unless, of course, you are doing sets of crunches all day, then yes, you are working on your abs.

In my previous example, the stability ball may only be a motivational tool. We are motivated to do things because they are associated with certain benefits (or perceived benefits in this case). Unfortunately, we may be following more of a rule of “Sit on a stability ball to be fit,” without knowing any better…but now we do.

Instead of sitting on a stability ball, we should target these workplace behaviors instead:

• Reducing the total amount of sitting time (standing up, walking around)
• Taking more standing breaks from the seated position

When focusing on our work environment, we can engineer certain things that will make it more likely that we get up and move more, such as:

• Setting a timer every 25-30 minutes
• Replacing work tasks that are commonly associated with sitting, but can still be completed when standing, like:
  • Talking on the phone
  • Attending a meeting (it’s awkward at first, but worth the health benefits)
• Restructuring your work schedule to allow breaks to occur more often

These environmental tips and tricks are a great start, but this new (physically active) behavior that you are engaging in needs to produce meaningful changes around you:

• Can you ask a coworker to go on a walk with you? Allowing you to catch up on an important business matter.
• Does the additional physical activity allow you to take the stairs without gasping for air? Making you feel physically better.
• Can you do a novel task differently? Try taking your trash down the hallway instead of using the trashcan right next to you.

In conclusion, it was a tough day for the stability ball. It hasn’t been shown to produce the benefits that are promised to us when used during the workday. We should leave it where performs best, at the gym. The activities to focus on are those that create an environment where more overall physical activity occurs and makes our day even more enjoyable!