Is it better to stand or sit? What are the benefits to standing vs sitting?
Standing desks became quite fashionable in the last few years leaving many people asking these questions.
Fortunately we can break down the tradeoffs for you.
Standing Productivity
This one is pretty easy. Research has not shown any increase or decrease in things like typing speed, performing tasks on a computer, or general productivity while standing vs sitting.
This is primarily for tasks that you know how to do well.
For creative work, you should experiment to find whatever environment, setup, or position works best for you.
Standing Weight Loss
One of the primary benefits recorded from research is you can burn more calories if you replace 6 hours a day of sitting with standing. Enough to burn about 2-5 pounds of fat (1-2.5 kg) in a year, assuming you keep your calorie intake the same.
This isn’t very efficient use of your time however as just a half hour of walking will burn 4 times as many extra calories as that 6 hour standing session. So if your reason for standing is weight loss, you’d be better off with a short walk.
Sitting Blood Flow
Sitting for prolonged periods of time can reduce blood flow to your brain. If your brain is getting less blood, it is probably getting less oxygen and you won’t be thinking as clearly. Researchers have found that breaking up the sitting by taking short walks is a great way to restore blood flow to your brain.
This may not apply directly to standing however. But if you can’t go for a walk every hour or so to increase your blood flow and boost your brain power, alternating from sitting to standing every hour or so may provide a small benefit.
Standing vs Sitting Posture and Back Pain
Standing can help you break out of some bad posture habits while sitting.
One of the primary problems people create when sitting for long periods is that they tend to slouch, hunch, and just generally have bad posture. If you are having back pain from poor sitting posture, then you should first examine your desk setup.
Do you have a poor chair? Is your desk a good height? Are your monitors positioned correctly?
But it might be down to just bad habits. Switching to working while standing when you notice yourself slouching might help you form better posture habits.
Word of warning.
Some research has found that standing for prolonged periods has caused back discomfort as well. So we don’t recommend doing stretches of standing work lasting more than 2 hours.
Conclusion
Standing part of your day definitely has some potential benefits. You should experiment and find what works best for you.
Whether you sit or stand, you should take short walks (3-10 min) every 1-2 hours to re-oxygenate your body and re-energize.