Standing at a desk is better for you?

     When you started using a sit-stand desk solution in your home office, the first thing you noticed was that you moved around a lot more, rather than simply reaching over or overextending to grab hold of the things youI needed.

     And when you decided to do some research into whether sitting really is the “new smoking” and if the claims of all the health benefits associated with standing were accurate, most of the findings showed that the associated behaviours, benefit the body.

     According to one professor of physical activity, lifestyle and health behaviours at the University of Sydney, Australia, while desks which allow for sitting or standing could be a good first step for very sedentary and unfit workers, “these aren’t a complete solution as people don’t expend much energy using them”.

     The research shows that factoring short walks in between periods of sitting is far more beneficial than actually standing while you work.

We need to think of sitting as an important part of the wider problem of physical inactivity” and that the “first priority is to reinforce the most evidence-based message: move as often as possible, huff and puff sometimes.

     However, if you do enjoy standing at your desk, it’s advisable to alternate standing with sitting or you’re just going to develop other posture-related injuries.

Physiotherapist Ian Meder believes it’s not sitting - or standing - but rather any sustained posture which causes problems.

     “I’ve found that sustained postures expose the individual to a higher risk of injury during otherwise low risk activities, for example, the office worker who sits for more than six hours a day, then goes home and experiences back pain when picking up his small child,” he said.

Ultimately, he emphasised that posture is highly individualised and that there is no perfect sitting or standing posture. And it is sustained posture which is the enemy. “Sit-stand desks do allow you to change the posture frequently, which may be the key factor in reducing injury risk,” he noted.

     A doctor of natural medicine and a practising chiropractor, advises standing an additional two hours “interspersed throughout the workday is ideal to optimise standing desk benefits. So, no. You do not have to stand at your desk all day.

     In addition to this, if you do a job that involves using fine motor skills, you may find that you struggle with this if you’re standing. That’s because these kinds of tasks are more accurately performed when you’re sitting down.

     For example, I find I can comfortably edit articles or handle email correspondence when I’m standing, but this is not the case when I’m doing page layout.

While the media may have blown out of proportion the supposed weight loss benefits associated with standing, the Harvard Health Blog reports that some studies do show that after a meal the blood sugar levels of someone who spends more time standing, return to normal a bit faster than that of someone who spends more time sitting.

     The results of a study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health show that research respondents burned 80 calories while sitting for an hour, 88 while standing, but 210 when walking.

     So how about using your lunch break to go for a walk and take in some fresh air?

So while it appears that the jury is still out on the true benefits of using a sit-stand desk solution and believe the answer to this conundrum is the answer to every other question you may encounter on your journey to health and fitness: find the balance.