Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The good news is, you don’t have to do it all the time!
Are you sitting or standing right now?
Chances are you’re sitting down right now — and you’re not the only one.
When working in offices and/or with computers, it’s standard to be sitting at your desk — but it’s not good for your health.
Back in 2013, a study showed that many of us spend as much as 12 hours a day sitting at the computer or watching television.
Add to that the seven hours of sleep, and you actually spend 19 hours of the day sitting or lying down.
The dangers of sitting
According to the Mayo Clinic, sitting for long periods of time can trigger a multitude of health risks, including an increased risk of some forms of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
The good news about all of this is that there’s a fix — and it doesn’t involve quitting your job to walk around all day.
The study
In 2013, the BBC and the University of Chester conducted a very simple experiment with a small group of volunteers.
The participants were fitted with heart rate and glucose monitors and were instructed to stand at their desks for at least three hours a day.
The results speak for themselves:
On standing days, the volunteers’ blood glucose levels returned to normal more quickly after eating a meal.
The average heart rate when standing was 10 BPM higher than when sitting, burning an additional 50 calories per hour.
30,000 calories a year
Doing the math, this showed that just by standing 3–4 hours every workday at your desk, you can burn the same amount of calories as running 10 marathons in a year!
