This information based on a webinar by Dr. Jack Callaghan.
For the past 10 years, prolonged sitting has been blamed to be the leading cause of obesity and death! However, this study looked at over 7000 workers over a 12-year period and found that…
“Occupations involving predominantly standing were associated with an approximately 2-fold risk of heart disease compared with occupations involving predominantly sitting.” – Smith et al 2018
If it seems like BOTH sitting & standing are bad for health …now what?
You’re probably thinking, we then need to move. Certainly studies do support that sit to stand workstations can reduce low back problems, but there is no evidence that occupational physical activity or sit to stand workstations decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Researchers and marketers are now promoting hybrid sitting, which is the space between sitting and standing where the trunk to thigh angle is greater 90 but less than 180 degrees as one sits on a high stool.
Fascinatingly studies show that people prefer either sitting normally or standing to any in-between hybrid sitting posture that is so often promoted by the makers of the fancy chairs.
One reason is that the postures in between sitting and standing actually require the greater muscle activity from the spinal and the quadriceps muscles… which make staying in those positions for a long time in fact tiring!
What about the desk treadmill? The studies on them have resulted in the subjects having “accidents” such as falling off the treadmill while working; so sorry, no studies.
In my humble opinion, it is therefore FAR safer and more beneficial to go for a 5-10 minute walk outside the office, than to use any kind of a desk treadmill.
If you really wish to know the single BEST sitting posture, please click here to view my 30-second “Brrr” video!