Health and Human Performance Laboratory

Situated at Ontario Tech University, the Health and Human Performance Laboratory is an innovative research facility dedicated to understanding the response to sedentary time and different intensities of exercise among adults and older adults.

Our work aims to understand why too much sitting is associated with worse health outcomes. Specifically, we characterize the physiological disruption that occurs as a result of prolonged and interrupted sitting. Using human saliva, we have assessed a large number of cytokines, and are moving into novel work to assess the oral microbiome. We are also collaborating on work using multi-omics approaches.

We also focus on understanding how older adults respond to exercise of various intensities, whether as part of a traditional exercise session or as part of a program aimed at interrupting sedentary time with exercise snacks, or breaks in sitting. The effectiveness of behaviour change interventions are assessed by monitoring daily movement patterns.

Together, our innovative work is aimed at understanding how much sitting is acceptable, and the minimum level of activity needed to overcome its negative effects on our health and performance.