If you are a typical office worker, like most and then it is very likely that you will be required to sit for a very long time during your workday. To put it more concretely, you sit in your office, meetings, transportation (train or bus), at rest, only interrupting the time when you are standing or walking. We could ignore this because it is just the way modern life is; however, many researches show that all of this sitting is bad for us, aside from the fact that we become a little bit stiff.
Prolonged sitting has been linked to a long list of health problems, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, and a higher chance of dying early. The NHS explains that sitting for too long can result in your metabolism slowing down, thus the body will have a hard time controlling blood sugar and blood pressure, and breaking down fat will be difficult. It is not only a matter of how often you do your exercises—if you sit for eight hours or more a day, then hitting the gym before or after work may not be enough to get rid of the negative effect.
That is where standing desks enter the picture. They’ve grown into a trendy choice for office workers attempting to combat the risks associated with sitting. But before you flip your chair and commit to standing through the day, it’s worth knowing that standing for extended periods isn’t an ideal solution either. One piece of recent research spearheaded by Bethany Barone Gibbs at West Virginia University concluded that even though alternating between sitting and standing does decrease the time you spend being sedentary, it doesn’t do much to lower your blood pressure—and that’s a biggie when it comes to cardiovascular health. As she explained, “blood pressure didn’t improve at all, not with resting blood pressure, ambulatory blood pressure, or pulse wave velocity.” More surprisingly, standing for too long has a counterintuitive effect of stiffening your arteries and straining your heart.
The actual issue isn’t sitting or standing—it’s spending too much time in any one position. Our bodies are built to move, and when they don’t, things start to go out of balance. When you’re sitting, your muscles aren’t working to circulate blood or help process sugar and fat. But if you’re standing still for hours, your muscles still aren’t active enough, which can cause blood to pool in your legs and add even more stress to your cardiovascular system. As Gibbs describes it, it all boils down to something referred to as the “muscle pump” in your legs—and that only occurs when you’re actually on the move. Walking, stretching, or even just transferring weight from one leg to the next.
So, what should you do? The solution isn’t necessarily to stand more—it’s to move more. Breaking up your day with short bouts of activity is where the real gains lie. One study has proven that even a minute walk per hour reduces blood pressure and circulation. “Our lowest dose that we tested—move every hour for just one minute—still reduced blood pressure by four to five points,” says Keith Diaz, PhD, at Columbia University Medical Center. That’s a respectable return for only sixty seconds of motion.
If you’re stuck at your desk most of the day, don’t worry—there are still easy ways to keep your body active. Stand or walk around during phone calls, take the stairs instead of the elevator, or set a timer to stretch every half hour. Walking meetings or a quick lap around the office can also help. And if you need to level up, under-desk treadmills or treadmill desks can integrate some light cardio into your workday. But honestly, you don’t need a fancy setup—just a little movement now and then does the trick.
Standing desks are still where it’s at. They can help alleviate back pain and encourage better posture—if you use them correctly. The trick is to switch between standing and sitting and to remain active when you do stand. That may involve doing some heel raises, subtly changing your weight, or taking a brief walk whenever possible. As NY Bone & Joint Specialists note, standing desks can alleviate discomfort, but only if used appropriately and in moderation.
The healthiest thing you can do for your body isn’t just to stand up—it’s to move. A stretch, a walk, or a few desk exercises: it doesn’t matter. Any movement at all counts. Your body and your future self will be grateful.