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Thursday, Feb 1 2018

Full Issue

Standing Desks Are Trendy, But Do They Really Help You Lose Weight? Not So Much.

Researchers found that standing as opposed to sitting burns a whopping 54 extra calories for a six-hour day. However, studies do show that people who have standing desks tend to move more during the day, which wasn't accounted for in the study.

Brace yourself: The calorie-burning benefits of standing versus sitting will not, at first blush, blow you out of your seat. Spend a minute upright instead of seated, and the additional energy expended amounts to less than one-tenth of a calorie (0.04 of a calorie, to be exact). But a new study that combines the best available research on sitting, standing and energy expenditure invites readers (reclining and otherwise) to consider the potential long-term effects of this seemingly marginal difference. (Healy, 1/31)

Are standing desks really doing us any good? That question has divided workplaces since sitting started going out of fashion about five years ago. Our sedentary lifestyles聽were聽killing us, so standing, the thinking went, was the logical聽antidote.聽Sitting too long has been associated with diabetes, hypertension, some forms of cancer, anxiety and a generally greater probability of聽early death. However, a few years and hundreds of studies later, the naysayers began聽arguing聽that the benefits of standing had been exaggerated. (Greenfield, 2/1)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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