When We Sit for Too Long

Dirk Fontaine, Edwin Rocha, Melinda Ervin

Department of Informatics, Indiana University Bloomington & DePauw University, Greencastle, IN 46135
UNIV 184G Bridge to Informatics - Dr. Patrick C. Shih - Winter 2017

Sitting Health Assessment Results

Introduction
The average person in todays society is often given
numerous chances to be seated during the day whether it be at
home on the job. However, there are also risks for those who
may sit for an extended period of time each day.
Studies have shown that sitting for too long can increase the
risk of type-2 diabetes and premature mortality. Increasing
physical exercise can decrease the risk of these health issues
although it must come in conjuction with much less time spent
sedentary since it has also been shown that leisure time physical
activity does not lessen the risks if a person is still spending a lot
of time each day sedentary (Dunstan, Howard, et al. 2012).
There is a study that also concludes that breaking up
periods of prolonged sitting can lead to lower postprandial
glucose and insulin levels in adults who are overweight or obese,
which allows for better glucose metabolism and decreased risk
of cardiovascular disease (Dunstan, Kingwell, et al. 2012)

Figure 1a

Figure 1b

Figure 1a shows how concerned people are by their ages while Figure 1b shows how concerned people are based on
their occupations. Visualizations were obtained through the program Tableau.

Survey Methods
We started out by administering a survey through Google
Forms to various respondents. Some were contacted online
and others in person. Our participants included mainly college
students in the 18-25 age range, but we were eventually able
to get more participants in the older age groups and of varying
occupations.

To develop a prototype that can detect how long a person is sitting

3D Enclosure Design

The actual survey consisted of the following questions:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

What is your current occupation?

What is your age?
How many hours do you work per week?
How much of your day is spent sitting?
How much physical activity do you get in a week?
Do you use any type of self-monitoring health
device?
7. How long do you exercise per week?
8. Do you experience pain/soreness from sitting too
long?
9. How concerned are you about your health?

The system uses a light sensor to detect whether or not someone

is sitting. Once it detects that a person is seated it will initiate a delay
of 30 minutes before it will notify the person with a buzzer and vibe
motor that they should get up and get moving. Once they get up it will
then reset and begin the 30 minute cycle when they sit down again.
The LilyPad enclosure will sit within a foam back cushion that can be
attached to a seat with a buckle.

Summary

Goal

LilyPad Arduino Circuit

Engagement with
the Prototype

Our project allows for the people to keep track of how long
they are sitting and acts as a reminder that they should take a
moment to get up and move around. We hope to increase
awareness in people concerning whether or not they sit for too
long each day. Regarding students specifically, since they
made up the majority of our respondents, this could be an
important warning early on for them to begin caring more about
their current health so that it hopefully will not become a serious
concern as they get older. Getting up and moving around for a
bit at multiple times throughout the day could potentially be
beneficial to maintaining ones health.

Cited Literature
Figure 2a

Figure 3a

Figure 2b

Figure 2a depicts the 2D image of our circuit

created using the program Fritzing. Figure
2b is the actual circuit we wired together and
soldered.

Figure 3b

Figure 3a and 3b shows images of the 3D

design of our enclosure that will hold the
LilyPad. This model was created through the
free 3D modeling website Tinkercad.

Dunstan, D. W., Howard, B., Healy, G. N., & Owen, N. (2012). Too much
sittinga health hazard. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 97(3),
368-376.
Dunstan, D.W., Kingwell, B.A., Larsen, R., Healy, G.N., Cerin, E.,
Hamilton, M.T., Shaw, J.E., Bertovic, D.A., Zimmet, P.Z., Salmon, J.,
Owen, N. (2012). Breaking Up Prolonged Sitting Reduces
Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Responses. Diabetes Care, 35(5),
976-983.

Acknowledgements
We want to thank DePauw University and Indiana University
Bloomington for providing us with space and resources as well as Dr.
Patrick Shih and Haley MacLeod for their continued support and guidance
throughout this project.