Is Your Standing Desk Hurting You? New Research Reveals Bold Claims
If anything has boomed in the work-from-home space in the last five years it’s standing desks (the standing desk market size was valued at $7.8 billion in 2023). With the rise of COVID in 2020, more people than ever traded in their morning commute to the office for a mid-day shuffle to their living rooms or home offices.
While people have started to trickle back into their out-of-home offices over the last year, standing desks have remained commonplace in most homes. And while most people (and studies) have agreed that standing is better than sitting for our long-term health, new research from the International Journal of Epidemiology shows it may not be as helpful as we originally thought.
The study looked at more than 83,000 adults in the UK Biobank and assessed the time they either stood, sat, or stayed still in relation to their risk of cardiovascular disease including coronary heart disease (CVD), stroke, and heart failure. They found that not only did prolonged standing not improve the individual’s heart health but long periods of standing could even increase the risk of circulatory problems for certain individuals.
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What they found negates the former thought that sitting for longer periods of time is a “silent killer.” While in some instances the above statement could still be true, the new research found that standing didn’t actually prove to reduce the risk of CVD at all.
In fact, standing for more than two hours per day was actually linked to a higher risk of orthostatic circulatory disease, a condition that affects blood pressure and heart rate when an upright position is assumed.
Despite the research, it may not be time to throw out your standing desk just yet. Given the study was observational, it doesn’t clearly establish cause and effect. While there’s no doubt that sitting—and a lack of physical activity in general—is bad for our health, standing for hours throughout the day may not be the solution to all of our problems.
Instead, try taking short walks on your lunch break or standing for quick spurts of time (maybe during your weekly meeting with your boss) instead of forcing yourself to stand for hours on end. Our recommendation: Invest in the best under-desk treadmills for your home.
Related: People Are ‘Seriously Impressed’ With This Sleek Standing Desk That’s on Sale for Just $139 on Amazon