Eat your vegetables, get enough sleep, exercise, don’t drink or smoke – we all know these are good habits to develop in order to get or remain healthy. Should we now add avoid sitting for prolonged periods to our “healthy habits” list? In a recent Washington Post article “Those with a Desk Job, Please Stand Up,” health experts are divided. Here are some highlights from this article.

A recent study from the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that among 123,000 adults followed over 14 years, those that sat more than 6 hours per day, were 18% more likely to die than people who sat less than 3 hours per day.

Dr. James Levine, an endocrinologist from the Mayo Clinic, who walks all day on a treadmill at his desk, says “We’re built to stand, to move, to walk.” In Dr. Levine’s paper “Your Chair: Comfortable But Deadly,” physicians point to research showing higher rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease and even mortality among people who sit for long stretches.

Alan Hedge, an ergonomics scholar from Cornell University, says “making people stand all day is dumb; standing increases torso muscle activity and spinal disc pressure, increases the risk of varicose veins, increases the risk of carotid artery disease and increases the load on the heart.” The key, says Hedge, is movement, not standing – try to get up and stretch or walk about and avoid prolonged periods at the desk.

Companies have already taken measures to have employees work while standing. Ten percent of AOL employees at the Dulles, Virginia campus have standing work stations. GeekDesk, a California company that sells desks that can be raised, says sales will triple in 2010 and that it has sold standing desks to the Secret Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Marc Hamilton, a leading researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, calls sitting “the new smoking,” but says that more research is needed to find out how much uprightness is needed to product the benefits associated with standing tall (how much x is needed to produce y).

Scott PR has a standing work station that one of our employees uses regularly. When asked about how she likes using it: “I like to alternate my day so that I’m switching from sitting for 1-2 hours, then standing 1-2 hours. I feel more energized while standing, especially in the middle of the day. Plus, standing, gives me the opportunity to stretch and move my legs and also do yoga poses with them – all while working, which feels nice. What I’d really like to try is a treadmill desk!”

Do you stand at work? We’d love to hear your thoughts or experience.

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