Article Thumbnail

Stand Up at Work. No, Wait, Sit Down

The good, the bad and the ugly things we learned about our bodies today

Just when you thought it was bad for you to stay seated at work, a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology has found that people who primarily stand over the course of a workday are twice as likely to develop heart disease as people who mostly sit down. The study, which tracked the health of 7,000 Canadians over a 12-year period, also found that workers who stand on the job have a higher risk of heart disease (6.6 percent) than smokers (5.8 percent), and are only slightly less at risk than those people suffering from obesity (6.9 percent).

According to researchers, standing for prolonged periods of time — like you might do at your fancy standing desk — forces your heart to work harder, as it has to counteract the effects of gravity and drive pooling blood from your legs back up through your body.

Now that we can’t stand or sit at the office, maybe we should work hanging upside down?

A few of the other things we learned about our bodies today: