Researchers through a recently conducted study have suggested that a desk with pedals can help to keep employees at work healthier and more productive. These pedals will help employees to fight the ill-effects of a sedentary lifestyle, the study suggested.

Study co-author, Lucas Carr from the University of Iowa in the US, discovered that providing portable pedaling device under desks of employees who once sat all day during work will allow them move even without getting up from their seats.

The study also found that workers who pedaled more reported weight loss, improved concentration at work, and fewer sick days as compared to their co-workers who pedaled less.

Carr said in a statement that the key to the findings was providing workers with a pedaling device that was not only comfortable and easy to use, but was theirs alone to pedal.

“We wanted to see if workers would use these devices over a long period of time, and we found the design of the device is critically important”, Carr said.

Carr's 16-week pilot study was the third and longest in a series of studies he has conducted testing portable pedal machines among workers with sedentary jobs.

Carr said his interest into it generate from growing evidence that people who sit all day are at high risk for serious health condition such as multiple chronic diseases, poorer cognitive function, and mental distress.

Some earlier researches have shown that sedentary lifestyle can increase the risk of numerous health conditions, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. In June, Medical News Today reported lack of physical activity may even have an impact on mental health, raising the risk of anxiety.