Why Is The Role Of Standing Desks Overestimated?

We all know that exercise is good for health, while sitting long is the opposite. Some people infer that we should sit as little as possible in our daily life, even at work. Perhaps it is because of this that vertical desks are sought after and promoted by some health officials and some countries.

However, studies have shown that the dangers of sitting at work are overstated, and the role of standing desks in improving health is overstated.

Dr. David rempel, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who commented on the topic, said: "a number of good security professionals and office furniture manufacturers are promoting sit stand workstations as a way to improve cardiovascular disease. However, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. "

From a convenient and comfortable point of view, if your body is experiencing all kinds of pain and discomfort, it's not a good thing to have more choices - "when using the computer, alternate standing and sitting may be useful for some people with back or neck pain," says renpell - but people shouldn't expect that they are exercising.

Let's first look at what we know about sitting, and then explain why the dangers of sitting at work can be misleading. A large number of studies have shown that prolonged sitting over a 24-hour period is significantly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. For example, a 2015 study followed more than 150000 elderly people for an average of nearly seven years. At the start of the study, these elderly people were in a healthy state. The researchers found that people who sat for at least 12 hours a day had a significantly higher mortality rate than those who sat for less than five hours a day.

In 2012, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Internal Medicine conducted an average of 2.8 years on more than 220000 people, with similar results. Long daily sitting is associated with increased all-cause mortality in different gender, age, and BMI groups. In 2015, a small but long-term (average 8.6 years) study published in the Journal of physical activity & health got the same results.

Another study in 2015 found this relationship after more than 50000 adults were followed for more than three years. But it also found that the background of "sitting" was important. Sedentary in certain situations, such as when people are working, will not produce the same effect.

So why is that? "Sitting" itself may not be a problem. It may be just a sign of other risk factors associated with high mortality. People who are unemployed or poor are more likely to have higher mortality rates, and they are also more likely to spend a lot of time at home. For some people, sitting for a long time is a sign, not a cause, of the consequences.

The study focused on work did not find the causal model of sedentary harm to health. In a 2015 paper, Japanese workers aged 50 to 74 were followed up for an average of more than 10 years. The results show that there is no correlation between sedentary work and cardiovascular risk among salaried employees, professionals and small business operators. A 2016 study of Danish workers also failed to find a link.

A systematic review published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found a link between sedentary work and poor health. But when they focused on prospective studies that helped better identify causal links - tracking specific populations over time - they found little evidence to support their theories.

In addition, these studies often only focus on the positive impact of "standing" and the negative impact of "sitting". The full report should include the opposite. A longitudinal study of more than 38000 people, published in the Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, found that standing or walking more than six hours a day at work was associated with a two or three fold increased risk of varicose veins requiring surgical treatment. Varicose veins are also associated with an increased risk of arterial disease and heart failure.

However, just like sitting too much at home, "standing" at work may also be a sign of other unhealthy demographic factors or habits, such as lower socio-economic status. There are obvious differences between people who have to stand or walk most of the time and people who can sit down at any time.

However, the evidence in this study and other studies at least suggests that standing too long at work is not good for your health, especially for those who are unable to lower their desks.

Many countries began to call for more standing and less sitting at work. Some even claim that "sitting long is a new type of smoking". In 2013, a member of the American Medical Association said: "prolonged sitting, especially in the workplace, can cause health problems. Encouraging the workplace to provide employees with alternatives to sitting and working all day will help to create healthier labor forces, "and it is suggested that the vertical worktable should be one of the alternatives.

First of all, we should be clear that it is unhealthy to sit for too long in a day. As I said before, exercise is the closest thing to a panacea, and few things are so good for your health.

But standing is not exercise. Many health organizations advise people to walk around and rest frequently in the studio. Standing instead of sitting is not in line with such advice, and may even mislead people into thinking that they are doing enough exercise.

Sitting / standing desks are not cheap, but like many other things in life, they are worth it as long as you like them. It would be better if it could help relieve some back and neck pain. It's just that most people may not need them.