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Comment by pavel_lishin | Hacker News Reader

> The researchers found no association between time spent standing and the risk of cardiovascular disease, suggesting standing desks and similar work postures might not be enough to stave off the health problems associated with sitting around.

I always assumed it was also probably pretty good for my back and neck - I'd love to see a study on that.

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The title is a bit misleading, "standing desks don't improve risks of cardiovascular disease" would have been better. I would wager it did nothing for my chances of getting cancer, skin moles, or being hit by a car either, yet that doesn't mean they are "as bad as sitting"

I personally switched only for my posture, and it mostly fixed my issues with neck and back. I never thought it had any other benefits than that. Maybe burn a marginal few calories? So I wouldn't say they're as bad as sitting. At least for me, they're better

Obesity is a major risk factor for both cardiovascular disease and cancer. They are highly correlated.

I remember reading something that your baseline consumption when standing is 140 calories/h vs 120 when seating. Definitely too marginal to have any sort of impact on obesity.

If those numbers are accurate then it would equate to a difference of about 2lb (1kg) of fat per year. That's a pretty typical rate of weight gain for many adults.

My math is a bit different. Assuming a 20 Cal/hr difference, a 40 hr working week, 52 weeks/year, 7700 Cal per kg of weight loss:

20*40*52/7700=5.4 kg/year

Surprisingly large. Did I mess something up?

Nit: 1 Calorie (capital C) == 1000 calories (lowercase c) == 1 kcal. 1 kCal == 1,000,000 calories, which probably isn't what you meant.

Oh yeah, that old chestnut. Thanks for pointing out. Fixed.

The body is pretty good at regulating the amount of energy we spend. Any increase at your desk is likely to be offset sometime else in your day.

Assuming that you would not eat the difference because you are more hungry.

> I personally switched only for my posture, and it mostly fixed my issues with neck and back

You should invest in good chair and desk.

I have a belief that a lot of (but certainly not all) back pain is caused by weak back muscles. Back muscles support the spine and hold it straight against the weight of the abdomen. Like all muscles, they atrophy if you don't exercise them. The very best way to exercise them is to spend most of your day standing, walking, and a good part of it running. Which is what evolution designed our bodies to do.

I had a standing desk at work and while I only used it for a couple hours a day, it helped GREATLY in erasing my chronic back pain.

The fact that they studied standing desks in particular is a bit odd, but it fits into the growing body of evidence showing that activity and fitness don't have nearly as big an impact on cardiovascular disease as diet does.

For something between standing and sitting, you could use a stool as I do. I have a bad back and I find it to be better than any chair I've used so far, though I've only tried a few. You still get a slight bit of elevated heart rate and caloric expenditure to keep your body firm and in good posture so I'd say it's better than sitting and more relaxing than standing. You also don't have to remind yourself to get up and move every once in a while because if you're practicing good posture, you won't be too comfortable.

Yeah moving to standing desk basically got rid of lower back pain. I didn't do it for the heart.

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