The science of standing desks does not quite stack up

13 November 2024

Pretty popular are sit/stand desks at the moment. I’ve helped a few people assemble them, when they’ve bought one for their home office. Good for your health, sit/stand desks, or so we’re told.

Mainly because you’re not sitting all day while working. Some recent research however, suggests the health benefits of sit/stand desks could be overstated. Sitting for extended periods may not be ideal, but too much time spent standing can also cause problems:

“More time spent sitting didn’t necessarily lower a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, nor did it increase the risk,” Ahmadi says. “It was a null finding. But what it did do was actually increase their risk of circulatory diseases.” Standing for more than two hours a day increased that risk by 11 percent for every extra half hour, which is bad news for retail workers and the standing desk industry.