Standing desks at office have supporters and detractors. Now, a new study says that standing during your work day could help you lose weight. Anindra Siqueira tells you whether you should stand for six hours of your day
We’re already being told that sitting is terribly bad for us — sitting is the new smoking, they say, so we should avoid it as much as we can. Now a new study says that just by standing instead of sitting for six hours a day, it might be possible to lose quite a bit of weight — as much as 10kg in four years, for a 65kg individual. While that might not seem like much, standing may prevent weight gain and help weight loss. So it really is win-win.
While prolonged sitting has long been linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and even the obesity epidemic, the simple practice of standing for a few hours each day could help greatly. The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, looked at research papers — 46 studies in total, covering 1,184 participants. The average age of people in the survey was 33-years-old, 60% of them were men, the average body mass index (BMI) was 24 kg/m2 and the average weight was 65kg.
The study estimated that substituting standing for sitting six hours each day, a 65kg individual would burn an extra 54kcal. That translates to weight loss of about 2.5kg a year. The researchers conclude that the simple act of replacing sitting with standing could help reduce the risk of long term weight gain as well.
Professor Lopez-Jimenez, one of the authors of the study, said,“It’s important to avoid sitting for hours at a time. Standing is a very good first step — no pun intended — to avoid this mindset of sitting interminably without moving. Who knows, it may also prompt some people to do a little more and take up some mild physical activity, which would be even more beneficial.”