An interventional study of Reduced-Exertion High-Intensity Interval Training (REHIT) in Health Behavior, sponsored by University of Stirling. Completed at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-03-24.
Sponsored by University of Stirling · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
Sufficient physical activity and a good cardiorespiratory fitness level (CRF) are central in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction. However, many people remain inactive, partly because current exercise recommendations fail to address important barriers to exercise. A novel exercise protocol has previously been developed called 'reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training' (REHIT), which can remove several common perceived barriers to exercise. REHIT 1) improves CRF and other key CVD risk factors, 2) is genuinely time-efficient (total time-commitment of just 2x10 min per week), 3) is well-tolerated, manageable, and not associated with negative affective responses, and 4) can be done in the workplace, in work-clothes and without a need to shower afterwards. To date, this intervention has only been investigated in a lab-setting. Therefore, in the present randomised controlled trial, the 'real-world' effectiveness of REHIT in improving maximal aerobic capacity (V̇O2max; a key risk factors of CVD) will be investigated in a workplace setting. Participants' attitudes and psychological responses to REHIT will be assessed to evaluate the likelihood of successful implementation. In 2 study centres, a total of up to n=50 physically inactive male and female office workers will be recruited to perform 6 weeks of unsupervised, computer-guided, office-based REHIT (n=25) or act as a control (n=25).
University of Stirling is the lead sponsor of 23 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants allocated to the intervention group will be asked to perform 2 exercise sessions per week for 6 weeks. Each session will involve 10 min of low-intensity cycling (25 W) interspersed with two 20-s 'all-out' cycle sprints against a resistance equivalent to 5% of body mass. The exercise intervention will be delivered on a commercially available cycle ergometer with software developed by CAR.O.L.
Behavioral: Reduced-Exertion High-Intensity Interval Training (REHIT)
The effects of the intervention will be compared to a no-intervention control group recruited from the same workplace settings.
REHIT is a type of Sprint Interval Training (SIT) that has been shown to be efficacious at improving maximal aerobic capacity using a minimal volume of exercise.
Change in maximal aerobic capacity
Aerobic capacity: a key risk factor of noncommunicable disease
Time frame: Change from baseline to 3 days after the 6-week intervention
Change in motivation for exercise
Motivation to exercise as assessed using the RM 4-FM questionnaire, a 16-item questionnaire assessing reasons for trying to be physically active on a scale from 1 ('not at all true') to 7 ('very true'). Higher scores indicate a greater motivation for performing exercise. Scores are added to get an overall score, with higher overall scores indicating greater intrinsic motivation.
Time frame: Change from baseline to 3 days after the 6-week intervention
Change in health status
Health status as assessed using the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF36), which is a 36-item, patient-reported survey of patient health. The SF-36 consists of eight scaled scores, which are the weighted sums of the questions in their section. Each scale is directly transformed into a 0-100 scale on the assumption that each question carries equal weight. The lower the score the more disability. The higher the score the less disability i.e., a score of zero is equivalent to maximum disability and a score of 100 is equivalent to no disability.
Time frame: Change from baseline to 3 days after the 6-week intervention
Change in perceived stress
Perceived stress as assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale questionnaire, which measures the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. The 10-item questionnaire ask for the frequency of stressful events in the last month, scored on a scale from 0 ('never') to 4 ('very often'). The sum score is taken, with higher scores indicating more perceived stress.
Time frame: Change from baseline to 3 days after the 6-week intervention
Intervention acceptability
Intervention acceptability as assessed using a questionnaire published by Boereboom et al (2016). This 11-item questionnaire asks how strongly participants agree with statements on the acceptability of the exercise intervention on a scale from 1 ('strongly disagree') to 5 ('strongly agree').
Time frame: 3 days after the 6-week intervention
Plan to share: No — data will be disseminated / published as means +- SD. no individual data will be presented.
This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Stirling