If you thinking standing up during work will be good for your health, you are in for a rude awakening.
According to a new study that analyzed 20 previously conducted research on stand-up desks, researchers concluded that there is no clear cut evidence that standing can counteract the side effects of sitting too much. Several studies have found an association between a sedentary lifestyle and an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular events and type 2 diabetes.
"It is important that workers who sit at a desk all day take an interest in maintaining and improving their well-being both at work and at home," lead researcher Dr. Jos Verbeek, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, said. "However, at present, there is not enough high quality evidence available to determine whether spending more time standing at work can repair the harms of a sedentary lifestyle."
The researchers analyzed studies dating up to June 2, 2015, that examined stand-up desks, computer programs and other intervention methods, such as a change in work policy that encouraged employees to take breaks and stand up at work. Overall, there were 2,174 participants from high-income countries.
Verbeek and colleagues reported that not only were some of the studies small and poorly designed, their findings regarding whether or not stand-up desks could reduce the number of hours people spent sitting often contradicted one another. The researchers also noted that the amount of calories people lost from standing up during work was barely enough to make a difference.
"The quality of evidence was very low to low for most interventions mainly because studies were very poorly designed and because they had very few participants," the study authors wrote in the study that was published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. "We conclude that at present there is very low quality evidence that sit-stand desks can reduce sitting at work at the short term. There is no evidence for other types of interventions. We need research to assess the effectiveness of different types of interventions for decreasing sitting at workplaces in the long term."
Another study that was published in Cochrane had also concluded, based on a review of eight previously conducted studies that there was not enough evidence to support the link between intervention programs that promote standing at work and health benefits.
