Stand to work if you like, but don’t brag about the benefits

NPR:

Too much sitting increases heart failure risk and disability risk, and shortens life expectancy, studies have found. But according to an analysis published Wednesday of 20 of the best studies done so far, there’s little evidence that workplace interventions like the sit-stand desk or even the flashier pedaling or treadmill desks will help you burn lots more calories, or prevent or reverse the harm of sitting for hours on end.

“What we actually found is that most of it is, very much, just fashionable and not proven good for your health,” says Dr. Jos Verbeek, a health researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

Standing desks are very trendy right now (I have one from Oristand I’m testing for review) but always seemed to me to be one of those “too good to be true” things. Turns out, I may be right. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t stand, or at least, not sit for 10 hours a day but it seems the health benefits have been overblown.