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These desks allow you to do "desk work" standing instead of sitting in a chair. They can be custom made (costing thousands of dollars), or you can convert a regular desk to a standing desk for free by raising your computer - a colleague of mine just put his computer on a stack of books . Sales of standing desks have skyrocketed in recent years; in many cases, they are far outselling traditional desks. Personally, I like the idea - it's definitely better to stand (stare at a computer screen) than to sit and stare at a computer screen all day. However, I also like the idea of looking at some of the hypothetical ideas surrounding standing desks. A common problem: Of course, it takes more effort to stay upright than to sit—and extra calories, and over the course of a few days or weeks, those extra calories can add up significantly. But can a standing desk really help you avoid weight gain or even lose weight?
That's exactly the question the researchers, published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, sought to answer. (Yes, there are such journals.) They put masks on 74 healthy people and measured their oxygen consumption to reflect how many calories they burned doing computer work, watching TV, standing or walking on a treadmill. Here's what they found:
1. While sitting, the study subjects burned 80 calories per hour — about the same as typing or watching TV
2. The number of calories burned standing is only slightly higher than sitting - about 88 calories/hour
4. Walking burns 210 calories per hour.
In other words, using an electric standing desk for three hours burns an additional 24 calories, which is about the same number of calories as carrots. But walking for half an hour during your lunch break can burn an extra 100 calories a day.
Previous reports of standing versus sitting have suggested that standing has a much higher rate of calorie burn, but this new study actually measured energy expenditure and may represent a more accurate assessment.
Reasons to stand at your desk
While this new study suggests that standing desks are unlikely to help with weight loss or avoid weight gain, there may be other reasons for standing at work. Advocates of standing desks point to research showing that the longer a person stands after a meal, the faster blood sugar levels return to normal. Standing instead of sitting can reduce the risk of shoulder and back pain.
Other potential health benefits of adjustale height desks are hypothesized based on findings that prolonged sitting is associated with higher risk
obesity.
1. Diabetes
To study the relationship between carbohydrate and fat metabolism and body posture, the researchers asked participants to sit continuously for 8 hours on the first day (the extreme type of "continuous sitting"); on the second day, stand every 20 to 30 minutes. Get up once (typical of "interval sitting"), stand for 2 to 5 minutes each time, stand still, walk a few steps, or do simple resistance exercises. It was found that after a day of "continuous sitting" using the L-shaped standing desk, the participants' body's metabolism of fat and sugar slowed down, their blood pressure increased, and they experienced severe fatigue. The researchers then recruited 6,000 volunteers between the ages of 65 and 99 to analyze their daily activity monitoring and detailed health records over a 20-year period. After taking into account other factors such as diet, exercise, medication, weight, age, smoking and drinking, people with the most "persistent sitting" had the highest rates of diabetes.
2. Cardiovascular disease
The researchers wanted to understand the association between prolonged sitting and the development of cardiovascular disease in older women, including the duration of the participants' daily sitting. The findings suggest that sedentary behavior is directly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in the body. The researchers found that women with the longest overall sedentary time had the highest risk of cardiovascular disease, with each additional hour of sitting being associated with a 12 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and a 26 percent higher risk of heart disease. The risk of cardiovascular disease in women with the shortest sedentary time was 54% lower than that of women with the longest sedentary time. Standing up frequently while sitting can effectively shorten the duration of sedentary and also effectively reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in the population. risk of disease.
3. Cancer (especially colon or breast)
Exercise has an important impact on people's overall health, and lack of exercise also increases the risk of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers. About 27% of diabetes and 30% of ischemic heart disease can be attributed to physical inactivity. At the same time, physical inactivity is also one of the major risk factors for death from chronic diseases. People who are not physically active have a 20% to 30% increased risk of death compared with people who are fully physically active. At work, people can't move all the time, so use a standing computer desk to solve this problem.
4. Premature death.
But "not sitting" can mean many different things -- walking, pacing, or just standing -- and as new research on energy expenditure suggests, these may not have the same effect on health. For most of these potential benefits, standing desks have not been rigorously studied. Therefore, the true health effects of standing desks are uncertain.
If you're going to stand at your desk
Remember, using a standing desk is like any other "intervention" - it can have "side effects". For example, if you suddenly go from sitting all day to standing all day, you risk having back, leg, or foot pain; it's best to start with 30 to 60 minutes a day and build up gradually. Setting a timer to remind you when to stand or sit (as many experts suggest) can distract you, reduce your concentration, and reduce your efficiency or creativity. You may want to try different intervals to find the one that works best for you.
It's true that certain tasks—especially those requiring fine motor skills—are performed more accurately when seated. So a standing desk might not be a good answer for everyone who sits a lot at work.
Standing doesn't replace exercise: You'll only burn a few more calories standing, which is better than nothing. But walking more than doubles your calorie burn. Studies that compared the two showed treadmill desk users had much greater improvements in blood sugar and cholesterol levels than standing desk users.
Sit standing desks aren't ideal for every task: You may be able to type or answer the phone while on your feet, but some tasks, like drawing and writing, are easier when you sit.
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