Increasing Employees' Health by Workplace Physical Activity Counseling: The Mediating Role of Step-Based Physical Activity Behavior Change.

Background: This study evaluated the effects of a 3-month workplace physical activity (PA) intervention on employees' health-related fitness and well-being. Moreover, mediational pathways were examined.

Methods: A longitudinal, quasi-experimental trial was evaluated in Belgian employees.

Validation of a smart chair and corresponding smartphone app as an objective measure of desk-based sitting.

Objectives: This study evaluated the validity of a smart chair and corresponding smartphone app (chair&app) to measure sitting time and sitting interruptions against camera-derived observation and activPAL.

Methods: Belgian deskbound university employees (n = 28, 17 women, mean age 30 ± 7.5 years, mean BMI 22.

Evaluation of stAPP: a smartphone-based intervention to reduce prolonged sitting among Belgian adults.

Excessive uninterrupted sitting, also known as sedentary behavior, has been detrimentally associated with several health outcomes. However, the general population is often unaware of these health risks. Mobile phone technology offers great potential to increase awareness and to initiate behavior change.

Short- and long-term effectiveness of a three-month individualized need-supportive physical activity counseling intervention at the workplace.

Background: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the short- and long-term intervention and mediation effects of a 3-month individualized need-supportive physical activity (PA) counseling intervention on employees' PA and sedentary behavior.

Methods: Insufficiently active employees (n = 300; mean age 42 ± 9 years; 78% female) were recruited from a large pharmaceutical company in Flanders, Belgium. A quasi-experimental design was used in which the intervention group (N = 246) was recruited separately from the reference group (N = 54).

Subcortical structures in humans can be facilitated by transcranial direct current stimulation.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that alters cortical excitability. Interestingly, in recent animal studies facilitatory effects of tDCS have also been observed on subcortical structures. Here, we sought to provide evidence for the potential of tDCS to facilitate subcortical structures in humans as well.