It seems the scariest thing to do these days is sit. It makes sense that being sedentary for prolonged periods would harm health, but look at the specific ways it hurts: increased risk of death, high blood pressure, increased cholesterol levels, obesity, diabetes, slowed brain function, a bad back, flabby abs and glutes, swollen veins, blood clots, lumbar disk damage and increased risk of colon, breast and endometrial cancers.
It’s certainly better to exercise and sit for long periods than to not exercise at all. But those who sit for extended periods and exercise still face an increased risk of death. In one survey of 200,000 people, participants were divided up based on how long they sat each day. Even after controlling for health problems, physical activity and weight, more sitting meant people were more likely to die earlier than those who sat less. Yikes.
Enter standing desks. More and more people with office jobs are turning to adjustable desks to allow them to stand in front of their computer. The personal testimonies are compelling. For instance, after American Beverage Association Chief Financial Officer Mark Hammond agreed to be the guinea pig for his company and began standing at his desk, he decided the switch could improve employees’ quality of life, he told the Washington Post. He recommended any employee who wanted a standing desk should be given one.
There are many stories of people seeing the “standing desk light.” Various employees have reported their headaches going away, their energy level increasing, their back pain ending and their leg cramps disappearing. It’s hard to disagree with someone’s personal experience, and scientists say there’s probably no harm in having the option available. But there’s also no proven scientific benefit of standing desks.
As Marc Hamilton, an inactivity researcher at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana told ABC News, “As of now, there’s really no research to show they do any good.”
In fact, standing for long periods of time can be bad for you, too, as waiters and nurses know well. A Danish study conducted over 12 years found that prolonged standing at work is associated with the development of varicose veins. Another study found it’s associated with atherosclerosis, a degenerative disease of the arteries.
But here’s what scientists do know: It’s good to move, even a little.
Dr. James Levine, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, calls it Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It happens when people fidget, tie their shoelaces, walk across a room, do gardening or wash dishes. When people don’t expend even those small bursts of energy, either because they’re sitting, standing or TV binge-watching, the physiological effects are clear. As Hamilton explained to The New York Times, your ability to burn calories drops; your insulin becomes less effective; and your enzyme levels, which break down lipids, drop, leading to a decrease in good cholesterol.
Dr. Joan Vernikos, a former director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division tasked with preventing astronauts’ muscles from wasting in space, found that standing itself didn’t really help compensate for long periods of sitting. Rather, it was how many times people stood up. People need to move.
“The key to lifelong health is more than just traditional gym exercise once a day, three to five days a week,” she said in a 2012 talk. “The answer is to rediscover a lifestyle of constant, natural, low-intensity, nonexercise movement.”
A one-size-fits-all solution, such as standing desks for everyone, isn’t a realistic answer for how to improve sedentary lives, though they might help. The real question comes down to how people alter their environment and habits. If they can’t afford a treadmill desk, perhaps they could install a mini-bike pedal exerciser under their desk, make sure to get up regularly, stretch often, or just fidget. Either way, it seems, the secret to a healthy life is to just keep movin’.