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Standing desk might be as bad as sitting all day

sciencealert.com

11–20 of 230 posts

Re: Standing desk might be as bad as sitting all day

#11

> The researchers found no association between time spent standing and the risk of cardiovascular disease, suggesting standing desks and similar work postures might not be enough to stave off the health problems associated with sitting around. I always assumed it was also probably pretty good for my back and neck - I'd love to see a study on that.

Yeah moving to standing desk basically got rid of lower back pain. I didn't do it for the heart.

Re: Standing desk might be as bad as sitting all day

#12
“ standing for long periods of time might not be much better than sitting after all”

Well duh, if you trade one sedentary all-day posture for another sedentary all-day posture it’s not likely to be of much benefit.

The point of standing desks is to vary posture during the day and being able to choose to stand or sit while continuing to work gives you one more way to achieve this. Mix with breaks and walks and it’s starting to look better than sitting on your ass all day anyway.

I try to stand for calls/remote meetings, I have a couple every day and it adds up to about 1h of standing / shifting my weight around and helps me stay focused. But not overdoing it is key - on days where I have more than a couple of meetings I’ll totally be sitting for some of them.

Re: Standing desk might be as bad as sitting all day

#19

> The researchers found no association between time spent standing and the risk of cardiovascular disease, suggesting standing desks and similar work postures might not be enough to stave off the health problems associated with sitting around. I always assumed it was also probably pretty good for my back and neck - I'd love to see a study on that.

The title is a bit misleading, "standing desks don't improve risks of cardiovascular disease" would have been better. I would wager it did nothing for my chances of getting cancer, skin moles, or being hit by a car either, yet that doesn't mean they are "as bad as sitting"

I personally switched only for my posture, and it mostly fixed my issues with neck and back. I never thought it had any other benefits than that. Maybe burn a marginal few calories? So I wouldn't say they're as bad as sitting. At least for me, they're better

Re: Standing desk might be as bad as sitting all day

#20
post #6

Maybe we need to, I dunno, rethink the way we work in general. Stop chasing silver bullets and admit that movement is medicine. Reading articles like this reminds me of the people I've watched exhaust every possible option for weight loss save for mindful eating and exercise.

Completely agree with you. However, what does this mean for a software engineer or anyone who must be in front of a computer for extended periods of time?

I’ve moved to biking everywhere and daily walks with the dogs, but still have 8 hours where I’m mostly sedentary

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