Sedentary Behavior Interruption Strategies for Sedentary Lifestyle

Overseen By Lindsay Dillon, MPH

Age: 18+

Sex: Female

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: University of California, San Diego

Must not be taking: Insulin

Disqualifiers: Male, Cancer, Mental state, others

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: 5

Duration: 12 weeks

What You Need to Know Before You Apply

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial aims to determine how breaking up long periods of sitting can improve health in overweight, postmenopausal women. Researchers will divide participants into three groups, each receiving different health coaching sessions. One group will focus on reducing sitting time, another on increasing sit-to-stand transitions, and a third group will receive general healthy aging advice. Women who are 55 or older, sit for 7 or more hours a day, and can move around without difficulty may be a good fit for this trial. As an unphased trial, this study offers a unique opportunity to contribute to important health research and potentially enhance personal well-being.

Do I need to stop my current medications for this trial?

The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications. However, if you are using insulin, you cannot participate in the trial.

What prior data suggests that these sedentary behavior interruption strategies are safe for postmenopausal women?

Research has shown that health coaching is a safe and effective method for encouraging lifestyle changes. One study demonstrated that health coaching reduced sitting time, proving its potential to increase activity levels.

For increasing standing frequency, studies have shown that reminders are safe. Specifically, one study found that reminders increased standing time by 229% over three months, proving them to be a safe and effective way to reduce sitting.

Both health coaching and reminders to stand have shown no serious side effects in research, making them promising methods to help people sit less. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Why are researchers excited about this trial?

Researchers are excited about this trial because it explores innovative ways to combat sedentary lifestyles, which are typically addressed through general exercise recommendations. This trial tests three unique strategies: Health Living Attention Control, Reduce Sitting, and Sit-to-Stand Transition. The Reduce Sitting approach focuses on decreasing overall sitting time, while Sit-to-Stand Transition encourages frequent short bursts of movement throughout the day. These tailored interventions, delivered through both in-person and phone coaching, aim to integrate more movement into daily routines in practical, manageable ways, potentially offering more personalized and sustainable solutions than current broad exercise guidelines.

What evidence suggests that this trial's treatments could be effective for reducing sedentary behavior in postmenopausal women?

Research has shown that health coaching, which participants in this trial may receive, can help adults become more active, reduce pain, and lessen disability. Some studies have found that even a few health coaching sessions can boost exercise levels and improve overall lifestyle. Additionally, research on sit-to-stand movements, another focus of this trial, indicates that reminders can significantly increase how often people stand up during the day. This approach helps reduce sitting time without affecting work. Both methods, tested in separate arms of this trial, aim to break up long sitting periods, which are linked to health risks in older adults. Early findings suggest these strategies can improve health for those who sit a lot. ^{1 2 6 7 8}

Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?

This trial is for overweight, postmenopausal women aged 55 and above who are medically stable. Participants should be able to stand and walk without a high risk of falling, have a BMI between 25-45, sit for more than 7 hours daily, do less than 70 sit-to-stand transitions per day, and must be fluent in English.

Inclusion Criteria

able to travel to study visits

55 years of age and above

medically stable without any health conditions that would inhibit standing or PA

Exclusion Criteria

younger than 55 years of age

sit for less than 7 hours per day, perform 71 or more sit-to-stand transitions per day

mental state that would preclude complete understanding of the protocol or compliance

Timeline for a Trial Participant

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

Treatment

Participants receive interventions aimed at reducing sitting time or increasing sit-to-stand transitions over 12 weeks

12 weeks

5 in-person health coaching sessions, 2 phone counseling sessions

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for changes in glucose regulation, physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning

4 weeks

What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?

Interventions

• activPAL inclinometer
• Health Coaching
• Tools to Prompt Standing or Prompt Sit-to-Stand Transitions

Trial Overview The study tests if health coaching or tools that prompt standing can interrupt sedentary behavior in older women. It's part of the STAR program aiming to understand how breaking up sitting time affects healthy aging. Women will randomly receive one of these interventions.

How Is the Trial Designed?

Group I: Sit-to-Stand Transition Experimental Treatment 3 Interventions

Participants in the Sit-to-Stand Transition condition will receive an intervention aimed at increasing the daily number of brief sit-to-stand transitions. This group will receive five in-person health coaching sessions and two phone counseling sessions.

Group II: Reduce Sitting Experimental Treatment 3 Interventions

Participants in the Reduce Sitting condition will receive an intervention aimed at reducing daily sitting time. This group will receive five in-person health coaching sessions and two phone counseling sessions.

Group III: Health Living Attention Control Active Control 1 Intervention

Participants in the attention control condition will receive a healthy aging educational intervention. This group will receive one in-person health coaching sessions and 6 phone counseling sessions.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

University of California, San Diego

Lead Sponsor

Trials

1,215

Recruited

1,593,000+

Citations

1. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK487705/

RESULTS - The Effectiveness of Health Coaching - NCBI The number of health coaching sessions ranged from 3 to 156 with a median of 12. Primary mode of coaching delivery was by phone in 52% of trials, followed by ...

2. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S183695532400002X

Health coaching improves physical activity, disability and ... Health coaching promotes a trivial to small improvement in physical activity and small improvements in disability and pain in adults with chronic non-cancer ...

3. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6125027/

Clinical Effectiveness of Lifestyle Health Coaching These data document the beneficial effects of LHC interventions that focus on exercise training only, dietary modification only, and both exercise training ...

4. clinicaltrials.gov clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03529903

NCT03529903 | MyLife: A Digital Health Coaching Program This randomized controlled trial will evaluate the effect of a digital health program, which uses pre-medical post-baccalaureate or undergraduate health coaches ...

5. bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-023-02162-x

A randomized trial of a theory-driven model of health coaching ... Behavior change techniques and coaching protocols need to be transparent and replicable to build the evidence base of effective health coaching ...

6. sciencedirect.com sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244025001604

Effects of a personal health coaching intervention (dbcoach ... For sedentary behavior, the absolute reduction was 22.8 (95 % CI: − 81.3, 35.8) min/day in the intervention group. The effect size was ...

7. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5225122/

Behavior Change with Fitness Technology in Sedentary ... About 50% of top-rated health and fitness apps include virtual coaching strategies such as providing instruction and demonstrations (28). Many fitness trackers ...

8. journals.humankinetics.com journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/21/3/article-p215.xml

Data Coaching: A Strategy to Address Youth Physical ... Recent studies have found data coaching via sharing PA data with classroom teachers improved student PA and decreased sedentary behavior.