© endopack / iStockStanding desks can lead to aches and brain drain.
But new research suggests that using standing desks may actually not be as good for you as previously believed. A small but provocative study suggests that standing at a desk for a prolonged period of time can lead to "significant" discomfort and mental sluggishness.
That's what researchers at Curtin University in Australia found when they studied 20 adult subjects who undertook two hours of laboratory-based standing computer work.
"Over time, discomfort increased in all body areas," they wrote in the journal Ergonomics. "Sustained attention reaction time deteriorated," they added, but "creative problem solving improved."
The bottom line, researchers noted, is that "prolonged standing should be undertaken with caution."
The advice backs up a 2016 report in which adverse effects of standing were found to include "an increase in back pain or varicose veins or being more tired at the end of the day."
Professor Alan Taylor, a physiotherapy expert at Nottingham University in England, told the Telegraph that standing desks are "not a panacea ...." And whether you sit or stand at your job, be sure to make time for a walk.
Comment: First they say sitting is the new smoking, and every bio-hacker runs out and gets a standing desk. Now apparently standing for too long is detrimental. Are lying down desks next? In all seriousness, though, it seems likely that the right balance of sitting and standing throughout the day is what is needed. The human body was obviously designed to both sit and stand at various points, and doing too much of either is likely not the best thing for you. See also: