Remember how the inclusion of standing desks and ergonomic chairs became an essential component in setting up an ideal home office setting amid the hectic work-from-home life during the COVID-19 lockdown? Even when lockdowns were lifted and employees returned to their workplaces, standing desks were encouraged in offices as a dynamic departure from traditional workplaces to advocate a more health-conscious and adaptable approach to productivity. Went.
This was because these desks were believed to promote an environment conducive to better work performance and ergonomic mindfulness for people with sedentary jobs. Aimed at integrating activities at work, using standing desks was reported to be beneficial to employee well-being but science says, think again.
Do you think standing desks are healthy?
A recent study led by the University of Sydney has shown that standing on your feet for more than 2 hours a day can increase your risk of developing health conditions such as deep vein thrombosis and varicose veins. The findings were published in the International Journal of Epidemiology and researchers studied data from 83,013 adults, who are part of the UK Biobank health records database, to establish that despite standing widely, standing does not reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease. The risk of diseases like heart failure does not reduce. Believed that this happens.
“The key takeaway is that standing for too long will not compensate for an otherwise sedentary lifestyle and may be risky for some people in terms of circulatory health,” said Dr Matthew Ahmadi, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. . We found that excessive standing does not improve long-term heart health and increases the risk of circulatory problems. He said people who sit or stand for long periods of time should schedule regular movement throughout the day.
The dark side of the standing desk:
“For people who regularly sit for long periods of time, casual activity and structured exercise may be a better way to reduce exposure throughout the day,” suggested Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, director of the McKenzie Wearables Research Hub at the University of Sydney. Risk of heart disease. Take regular breaks, walk around, go for a walking meeting, use the stairs, take regular breaks when driving long distances, or use lunch time to get away from the desk and get some movement.
Stating that the findings highlighted the importance of staying active during the working day, Emily McGrath, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation (who was not involved in the research), said, “The more people avoid being sedentary, the better ” , Long term, studies showed that standing time was not associated with an increased risk of heart disease, although, for some people, it had other effects on circulatory health. It is important to be proactive in reducing this risk.”
Researchers studied people who did not have heart disease at the beginning of the study and wore devices on their wrists to track activity, only to find that every additional 30 minutes of standing for more than two hours For, the risk of circulatory disease increased by 11%. , The researchers concluded that standing did not reduce the risk of heart conditions such as stroke, heart failure and coronary heart disease.
