

Calorie burner: How much better is standing up than sitting? - gadders
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24532996

======
Cor
Good article. I've always wondered how many more calories are burned while
sitting versus standing. I'm quite surprised by how much of a difference
standing makes, to be honest.

Unfortunately, for the moment, I simply cannot use a stand up desk full time.
I spend around 8 months out of the year travelling. At home, I have a stand up
desk, and I really love it. When I'm travelling, though, I spend most of my
time sitting while working at a desk, which isn't too good.

One thing I've found useful is to stretch for 5 minutes for every hour of
sitting. People look at me like I'm crazy, but it makes a demonstrable
difference. Kelly Starrett goes into great detail about the effects of sitting
and how stretching can help in his book 'Supple Leopard'; it's worth picking
up, in my opinion. ([http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-
Per...](http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-
Performance/dp/1936608588)).

The couch stretch is particularly good at counteracting tight hips caused by
sitting. ([http://fitnerdz.com/2013/05/31/fitnerdz-couch-
stretch/](http://fitnerdz.com/2013/05/31/fitnerdz-couch-stretch/)). Get into
position, hold it for 100s, swap legs, hold it for another 100s, and repeat
for every hour of sitting. It makes a huge difference to the legs, hips, and
back.

~~~
henrik_w
Taking a break every hour or so is also good for avoiding RSI. I had RSI
pretty bad several years ago, but have recovered completely. Part of the
solution was using a break program to help me remember to take breaks for
stretches. Currently (OS X), I'm using RSI Guard, which does what I want. More
details on my RSI problems and solution here:
[http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-
rsi/](http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/)

~~~
gillianseed
Yeah I had a similar bout two years or so back.

A colleague had suffered the same problem and gave me instructions like taking
a hourly break and doing a stretching excercise (rotate palm downwards and
hold it flat with outstretched arm bending slightly upwards against a wall
while tilting the head in the opposite direction for thirty seconds in three
repeats), worked wonders for me and I've not had any problems since (still
doing those stretches, although not as rigorously).

------
powertower
> and some studies suggest that those who sit all day live around two years
> less than those who are more active.

Considering that truly unhealthy and sick people (who will soon die) probably
sit more then they stand, if you remove those people from the dataset,
wouldn't the interpretation become that sitting is actually extremely
beneficial for the average person who will end up outliving a non-sitter
person by several years?

~~~
lambda
The studies most often cited to support this finding are studies of London bus
drivers vs conductors (ticket takers) on the double decker London busses. They
tend to be from similar socioeconomic backgrounds, start at similar young
ages, and so on, controlling for many confounding factors, but the drivers
spend all day sitting, while the conductors spent most of the day on their
feet.

However, when trying to find the actual study to see if they had controlled
for any pre-existing conditions, I found this paper:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1008580/pdf/brji...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1008580/pdf/brjindmed00119-0013.pdf)
which seems to indicate that in fact, people of heavier builds were more
likely to become drivers than conductors, and conductors with heavier builds
were more likely to switch to becoming drivers.

So actually, it seems that the original study may be flawed, in the way you
describe. While it did study people from a young and healthy age, it hadn't
considered pre-existing weight or genetic differences between drivers and
conductors, and it looks like that may actually play a substantial role in the
difference in findings.

------
driverdan
> So why is sitting so damaging? One thing it does is change the way our
> bodies deal with sugar... but how efficiently your body does that is
> affected by how physically active you are

Terrible reporting here. This has nothing to do with sitting, it has to do
with inactivity. You can have an active lifestyle and still sit all day. Later
it states

> blood glucose levels fell back to normal levels after a meal far more
> quickly on the days when the volunteers stood than when they sat.

So what? If you don't have a medical condition related to elevated blood
glucose having meal related glucose levels take longer to return to baseline
shouldn't cause problems. I'm not aware of any research stating otherwise.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

There _are_ problems due to sitting though, such as

> a sharp reduction in the activity of an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase

and as they mentioned standing burns far more calories (the article said 50/h)
which is a good thing.

I'm all for standing but it'd be nice for reporters to get their facts
straight.

~~~
hackinthebochs
This is wrong actually. Sitting is an independent risk factor for death (i.e.
independent of physical activity level):
[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-07-09/...](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-07-09/sitting-
less-could-extend-life/56117870/1)

The reasoning is that standing activates enzymes and gene expression triggered
by activity in your slow-twitch high-fatigue-resistant muscles which run on
fatty acids, which has all sorts of benefits for metabolism, body composition,
and overall health.

~~~
lambda
Note that if you take a look at the study mentioned,
[http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000828.full](http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000828.full)
you find:

    
    
      Our analysis assumes that there is a causal relationship 
      between sedentary behaviour and mortality.
    

So, it doesn't actually demonstrate it; it finds a correlation, and makes the
assumption that there is causation.

However, previous studies have shown that heavier people are more likely to
choose sedentary jobs:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1008580/pdf/brji...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1008580/pdf/brjindmed00119-0013.pdf)
. So in fact, the causation may go in the other direction; people who are
heavier, or less healthy in other ways, may be more likely to choose sedentary
jobs or sedentary lifestyles.

It would be interesting to see if anyone has actually been able to demonstrate
a causal effect based on changes in behavior. Does changing from a sitting
desk to a standing desk actually help? I don't think that has been
conclusively demonstrated.

~~~
hackinthebochs
I've seen quite a few more studies over the last year or so that come to the
same conclusion. A google search returns many.

------
jsilence
While not doubting the general findings I'd like to add a pointer that it is
not a high level of glucose that raises the risk of getting diabetes II and
heart disease, but fructose.

See this lecture of Dr. Lustig on sugars and how they are being metabolized in
our body:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM)

~~~
a8da6b0c91d
A lot of smart nutritionists and biochemists seem to think Lustig is full of
it.

[http://www.andrewkimblog.com/2013/02/quick-commentary-on-
dr-...](http://www.andrewkimblog.com/2013/02/quick-commentary-on-dr-lustigs-
take-on.html)

------
aestra
If you're going to be standing all day, stand on an anti-fatigue mat. They are
used in industrial settings to reduce strain from standing, and they do make a
big difference.

~~~
a-priori
I use a standing desk full-time and find that two anti-fatigue mats stacked on
top of each other are better than one. But one is far better than none.

Haven't tried three yet. :)

~~~
angularly
I try to stand up as much as possible - I probably stand 5-6 hours per day. I
am using the kybun standing mat, and can recommend it.
[http://www.kybun.com/products-and-stores/kybun-
products/kybo...](http://www.kybun.com/products-and-stores/kybun-
products/kybounder.html)

Get the big and thickest one, the small is just too small if you stand with
legs slightly apart.

It trains your muscles while you stand.

------
eddiedunn
Or, to keep the blood sugar levels at a sane level, people could stop eating
so much junk; protein and fat don't spike your blood sugar the way sugary
carbs do.

~~~
edwardrs
This isn't good advice either though. Many people eat way too many fats and
often consume extra protein as well. Carbs should be your main energy source
(~65% of your daily calories should come from carbs) with a lot of the rest
coming from protein. The solution is to continue to consume large amounts of
carbs, but change the source so that the carbs are complex which are generally
nutrient rich and provide a great energy source for the body.

~~~
eddiedunn
Carbs are not essential, in fact you can survive and thrive without them. Fat
and protein _are_ essential, however.

Why do you say that carbs should be your main energy source? I've seen no
sound scientific evidence to support that claim.

I don't eat many carbs any more, and I'm living a lot more healthily as a
result. It works for me. However, please do note that I'm not interested in
getting into a debate with you on this -- that's the reason I wrote "sugary
carbs"[1], which pretty much everyone agrees are bad for you.

[1]: Glucose, fructose, wheat flour are the most common culprits

------
krmmalik
I really like the idea of standing desks and have loved many of the other
articles previously posted on this subject, too.

I don't know what it's like for others but being a freelancer going from hot
desk to hot desk, client to client and doing most of the travel by car or
train - This is very hard to maintain since everything has been designed for
sitting.

I might try standing on the tube from now on though but i might look weird if
it's relatively empty.

~~~
aestra
Don't be so self conscious! I see plenty of people standing on public
transportation when there are seats. There are plenty of reasons why I can
think of:

\- They have a lot or big luggage or a backpack with them.

\- They are only going 1 stop or two.

\- They have a medical condition where sitting down and standing back up again
is difficult, so it is easier to stay standing.

\- They have been sitting all day at work and want to stretch their legs.

\- They want to leave the seats for other people who wish to sit if the train
fills up, whereas they don't mind standing.

\- Standing is more comfortable for them than sitting.

\- A lot of times they are reading, so I think reading might be easier
standing than sitting perhaps, but I don't know because I have never tried to
read on the train.

Nobody will question you.

~~~
keithpeter
Reason 3 includes chronic back pain in my case. It is just more comfortable to
stand than to sit in the really cramped seating (I'm very tall).

~~~
aestra
I know someone who had surgery and for several months afterwards he wasn't
allowed to sit. He could stand and lay down, but sitting wasn't allowed for
proper healing.

Someone else I know had some kind of nerve problem in the back of her legs and
she preferred to stand unless she was going to sit for a long period of time.
I guess constant standing/sitting motion aggravated it.

------
thehme
If I was to stay long term at my company, I'd probably encourage the
transition to work while standing, but this is not the case, and I also don't
see much interest in the subject here. Therefore, I take consolation in that
after work, I go home and work on my own projects while standing, for about
3-4 hrs, so I think I'm safe...according to the article. I concur with other
comments about the need for just having an active lifestyle, which should
definitely compensate for working at a place like mine, where sitting at a
chair in front of your monitor is expected.

------
mingabunga
I've been standing at a desk for almost a year now. I started because I do a
lot of running (sprints etc) and your glutes go to sleep when sitting in a
chair. Look at all the old people (especially women) with no butts. I'm sure
it causes back pain etc to have no glut support there. Anyway, it helps to
take short walks when desk standing to give the muscles a rest otherwise it
can be quite fatiguing.

------
tocomment
It mentions blood sugar control as a major problem with sitting. I wonder how
much benefit could be achieved by simply taking a walk after each meal?

