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by bdkoepke
3987 days ago
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Sit-stand desk is probably the best with the information we currently have. http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/13/the-dangers-of-sitting...
http://vuir.vu.edu.au/21403/1/Van_Uffelen_Occupational_sitti... Like everything in life, moderation is the key. If you are getting up and down from your desk regularly anyway then the health benefits wouldn't be very large. Standing all day isn't particularly good for you either. I believe the science is still out on this. My main issue with the current studies is that the occupations are different. For instance, what is the difference in stress between a GP and an accountant? As far as I'm aware, there haven't been any studies that compare mortality that control for the 'same occupation'. The studies thus-far have only shown that people who have occupations that require standing tend to have lower all-cause mortality than those whose occupations usually involve sitting. If there is such a study then I’m interested in reading it. |
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As near as I can tell, the science verges on non-existant... there's a few studies that sample a smidge of the space, but nowhere near enough to draw very interesting conclusions.
Standing desks seem to help, at least in the short term, but the question is, why? If, for instance, they help because the people in the study are, well, average Americans, and the standing desks help develop core muscle strength, yes, that will improve their lives. But if it is about that, then you could probably do much better with much less effort by directly performing exercises that strengthen your core, without incurring the risk of knee damage from a standing desk. And of course if standing is good for some other reason, that won't help the problems at all. As near as I can tell, science has nothing to say about this particular rather simple question yet. We have roughly one point in the relevant space and a whole bunch of people drawing a lot of lines through it very excitedly based on biases and preconceived notions, but nowhere near enough data. Or, basically, business as usual in the world of health and fitness. (Sadly.)
Personally I focus on strength training directly and leave the standing desk issue aside. YMMV. (Which I mean seriously. Like it or not, you have to put your chips down based on what you know now, not the science of 2060.) Let's all get together and compare notes in 30 years.