Without a doubt, inactivity is bad for us. Sitting for long periods of time is consistently associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death. The natural reaction to this terrible fate is to move rather than sit. Research suggests that even a little bit of exercise can help. But in modern times, it’s hard to avoid sitting, especially in the office. This has led to various strategies to improve yourself, such as the rise of standing desks. If you have to be tied to a desk, you should at least be able to work while standing.
However, research on whether standing desks are beneficial is sparse and sometimes inconclusive. Additionally, standing for long periods of time can come with its own risks, and data on job-related sitting is mixed. The final verdict on standing desks is still not clear, but two studies published this year provide some of the most nuanced evidence yet about the potential benefits and risks of standing.
please take a seat
Years of research have shown that standing desks improve markers of cardiovascular and metabolic health, including lipid levels, insulin resistance, and arterial flow-mediated dilation (the ability of arteries to widen in response to increased blood flow). It has been. But it’s unclear how important these improvements are in avoiding health problems such as heart attacks. A 2018 analysis suggests the benefits may be modest.
And there’s good reason to be skeptical about standing desks. First, standing, like sitting, is not moving. If the underlying problem is lack of movement or exercise, simply standing still is not the answer.
However, while sitting and standing can conceivably be lumped together into a single category of “standing still,” some researchers argue that not all sitting positions are the same. I’m doing it. In a position paper published in the Journal of Healthy and Environmental Medicine in 2018, two health experts argue that the association between poor health and sitting may be related to the specific population being studied. He argued that this could come down to the “special contribution” of “time spent sitting at home.” For example, the “couch potato effect.” ”
Two researchers, former professor emeritus David Lempel of the University of California, San Francisco, and Niklas Krauss, formerly of UCLA, pointed to several studies that specifically looked at occupational sitting time and poor health outcomes; Results were mixed. For example, a 2013 analysis found no link between sedentary work and cardiovascular disease. This study suggested an association with mortality, but only among women. A 2015 study followed approximately 36,500 Japanese workers for an average of 10 years. The study found no association between mortality and sitting time among office workers, professionals, and people working in home businesses. However, among people working in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, an association was found between mortality and locus.
Still, despite some ambiguity in the details, more recent research has linked sitting for long periods of time (no matter where you sit) to poorer health outcomes, particularly cardiovascular disease. continues to become clear. For this reason, interest in standing desks continues to grow as offices do not have the luxury of frequent moving breaks. That’s why researchers are struggling to figure out whether standing desks have any benefits.
