… but the cycling desk might. Damn.
In more good news for people who never liked standing desks and have been waiting for a good excuse not to use one, new research from the University of Sydney found that standing more does not necessarily improve cardiovascular health over the long term.
In bad news for a large portion of that same group, “walking meetings” are a suggested alternative.
The research, which was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, looked at accelerometer data from around 83,000 British adults over seven years.
The top-line finding was that stationary behaviours – i.e. a mixture of sitting or standing still – and sitting behaviours were both associated with increased risk of CVD above certain thresholds.
These thresholds were 12 hours per day for stationary behaviour and 10 hours per day for sitting.
Time spent just standing was not associated with CVD risk.
Rather, it was associated with higher levels of risk related to orthostatic circulatory disease risk like varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis.
In short, standing up at work will not offset an otherwise sedentary lifestyle and could instead contribute to circulatory diseases!
“The lack of muscle movement during stationary time may result in a reduced venous return by skeletal muscle contraction and pumps contributing to venous pooling, causing orthostatic circulatory problems,” the researchers wrote in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
“Therefore, a key implication of our finding is that non-stationary movement (e.g. walking, cycling or other physical activities involving some degree of movement) is important to reduce orthostatic circulatory disease risk, aligning with current public health messaging to ‘move more’.”
University of Sydney sedentary behaviour Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, who co-authored the paper, recommended finding “incidental” ways to move during the work day.
“Take regular breaks, walk around, go for a walking meeting, use the stairs, take regular breaks when driving long distances, or use that lunch hour to get away from the desk and do some movement,” he said.
“In Australia, we are now coming into the warmer months, so the weather is perfect for sun-safe exercise that helps you get moving.”
This Back Page correspondent should have been more careful what she wished for.
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