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As far as I know, the evidence is very conflicted on whether using a standing desks is actually better than sitting. Apparently, standing still is still sedenta

As far as I know, the evidence is very conflicted on whether using a standing desks is actually better than sitting. Apparently, standing still is still sedentary.

Someone 13y ago
Standing still exercises the leg muscles. That, in turn, improves blood circulation. Having said that, I think the 'sitting kills you' meme is mostly a fad. Yes, sitting perfectly still for hours isn't healthy, but if the way 'normal' office people sit were as unhealthy as the current fad implies, we would have seen that from life expectancies of white collar vs blue collar workers decades ago. Also, there are different ways of sitting. For example, a couch potato is quite different from an Italian talking while sitting. As to the evolutionary claims: most animals are incredibly lazy, with sprints in between. Looking at our close relatives, chimps and gorillas, I see days of sitting and lying with some strolling and an occasional run in between. Looking at wolfes, an animal similar to humans in the sense that is is specialized in long distance running, I read on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf#Behaviour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf#Behaviour that gray wolves run about 25 km/day on average. At a modest 5 km/h, that leaves them 19 hours to, basically, do nothing. Maybe, we should bring back the Roman way of lying down on a sofa at a table?
ansible 13y ago
Standing is a fair bit more active. You legs and core muscles are engaged. I am a naturally fidgety person, so at my standing desk I am constantly shifting my weight from foot to foot, and making other small movements. I am by no means running a marathon every day, but I'm definitely not sedentary either.
jrockway 13y ago
Standing raises my heart rate, which is about 50bpm sitting and 70 standing. In an 8 hour day, that's about 10,000 extra beats, which is about as many extra beats as riding my bike for 20 minutes. That translates to around 100 extra calories burned a day, just by doing nothing! (That's a pound a month, or so.) I also spend about 8 hours a week on my bike, so 20 minutes is relatively insignificant, but I'll take free weight loss any day. The benefits on posture are not to be dismissed, either.

As far as I know, the evidence is very conflicted on whether using a standing desks is actually better than sitting. Apparently, standing still is still sedentary.

Someone 13y ago

Standing still exercises the leg muscles. That, in turn, improves blood circulation. Having said that, I think the 'sitting kills you' meme is mostly a fad. Yes, sitting perfectly still for hours isn't healthy, but if the way 'normal' office people sit were as unhealthy as the current fad implies, we would have seen that from life expectancies of white collar vs blue collar workers decades ago. Also, there are different ways of sitting. For example, a couch potato is quite different from an Italian talking while sitting. As to the evolutionary claims: most animals are incredibly lazy, with sprints in between. Looking at our close relatives, chimps and gorillas, I see days of sitting and lying with some strolling and an occasional run in between. Looking at wolfes, an animal similar to humans in the sense that is is specialized in long distance running, I read on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf#Behaviour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf#Behaviour that gray wolves run about 25 km/day on average. At a modest 5 km/h, that leaves them 19 hours to, basically, do nothing. Maybe, we should bring back the Roman way of lying down on a sofa at a table?

ansible 13y ago

Standing is a fair bit more active. You legs and core muscles are engaged. I am a naturally fidgety person, so at my standing desk I am constantly shifting my weight from foot to foot, and making other small movements. I am by no means running a marathon every day, but I'm definitely not sedentary either.

jrockway 13y ago

Standing raises my heart rate, which is about 50bpm sitting and 70 standing. In an 8 hour day, that's about 10,000 extra beats, which is about as many extra beats as riding my bike for 20 minutes. That translates to around 100 extra calories burned a day, just by doing nothing! (That's a pound a month, or so.) I also spend about 8 hours a week on my bike, so 20 minutes is relatively insignificant, but I'll take free weight loss any day. The benefits on posture are not to be dismissed, either.