Key TakeawaysA recent study found that people using standing desks experienced less pain than people at seated desks. However, they also made more errors in their work compared to those who worked sitting.Staying seated for prolonged periods can lead to back pain, stiffness, and headache, and can even negatively affect your focus.While standing desks have potential benefits, experts caution that the increase in energy expenditure from active workstations is minimal, making the overall health impact limited.

Key Takeaways

A recent study found that people using standing desks experienced less pain than people at seated desks. However, they also made more errors in their work compared to those who worked sitting.Staying seated for prolonged periods can lead to back pain, stiffness, and headache, and can even negatively affect your focus.While standing desks have potential benefits, experts caution that the increase in energy expenditure from active workstations is minimal, making the overall health impact limited.

The pandemic kicked off a quest for optimizing work-from-home setups. To minimize back pain and maximize productivity, you may have considered getting a standing desk. If you’re still on the fence—or trying to decide whether your standing desk is actually helping you—consider the results of a new study.

From 2019 to 2020, researchers at Texas A&M University School of Public Health monitored 61 full-time adult office workers at a major university to determine just how beneficial standing desks actually are. The participants were placed in three groups based on their workstation type:

The study showed that the workers who used stand-biased desks spent more time standing and less time sitting than traditional or sit-stand workstation users. They also had less lower back pain than the seated group.

“Participants using sit-stand reported less discomfort in seven of the eight body regions when compared to the traditional workstation group,” saidTricia Salzar, PhD, MPH, CPE, a regional ergonomist and the study’s lead author, referencing the neck, upper back, lower back, shoulders, hips, knees, and wrist/hand.

The stand-biased and sit-stand users were “just as productive as those using traditional workstations,” said Salzar. However, people at standing desks made more errors (typos) than the seated group.

Sitting Positions to Correct Your Posture Gradually

What’s So Bad About Being Sedentary?

“When you aresedentary, your body’s ability to effectively use an enzyme involved in fat and glucose metabolism is impaired,”Jamie Beadle, PT, an orthopedic physical therapist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told Verywell.

Signs that you’ve been sitting too long include back pain, stiffness, headache, and loss of concentration.

While there’s no magic number of hours that maximizes health and productivity, Beadle recommends avoiding extended periods of sitting. If you do tend to be seated for long stretches, ergonomists recommend breaking up your sitting time into 30-minute segments:

“The key is to change positions and move,” Beadle said.

How to Improve Your Posture Naturally

How to Get Standing Desk Benefits Without Buying a Standing Desk

Standing desks can be expensive, ranging from $100 to $1,500, and they’re not always compact or easy to move. If a standing desk isn’t practical for your setup or in your price range, Beadle said you can still get some of the potential benefits of the workstations in other ways.

“A 60-to-90-second break every 30 minutes should be sufficient. Simply stand up and move a bit,” said Beadle. Time can fly on a busy day, so try setting a timer or calendar reminder to prompt you to get up and move.

You could also look into the other kinds of “active” workstations available. Pedaling, treadmills, and balance ball desks have emerged—but experts aren’t convinced that they offer all the physical benefits they tout.

“The amount of increasedenergy expenditurewhen using them is pretty negligible, so there’s not going to be much of a health benefit,” said Beadle, adding that if your work requires using a keyboard and mouse, an alternative workstation might be more likely to negatively affect your productivity.

What This Means For YouStanding desks and other active workstations may not deliver all the benefits they promise, but reducing your time spent sitting down can have positive effects on your health and productivity.

What This Means For You

Standing desks and other active workstations may not deliver all the benefits they promise, but reducing your time spent sitting down can have positive effects on your health and productivity.

3 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Lynn Salzar T, Aguilar KN, Smith ML, et al.Stand-capable workstations reduce occupational sedentary time among administrative workers.IISE Trans Occup Ergon Hum Factors. Published online June 17, 2024. doi:10.1080/24725838.2024.2362720Texas A&M University.Does the type of workstation you use make a difference in your health and productivity?.Park JH, Moon JH, Kim HJ, et al.Sedentary lifestyle: overview of updated evidence of potential health risks.Korean J Fam Med. 2020;41(6):365-373. doi:10.4082/kjfm.20.0165

3 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Lynn Salzar T, Aguilar KN, Smith ML, et al.Stand-capable workstations reduce occupational sedentary time among administrative workers.IISE Trans Occup Ergon Hum Factors. Published online June 17, 2024. doi:10.1080/24725838.2024.2362720Texas A&M University.Does the type of workstation you use make a difference in your health and productivity?.Park JH, Moon JH, Kim HJ, et al.Sedentary lifestyle: overview of updated evidence of potential health risks.Korean J Fam Med. 2020;41(6):365-373. doi:10.4082/kjfm.20.0165

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Lynn Salzar T, Aguilar KN, Smith ML, et al.Stand-capable workstations reduce occupational sedentary time among administrative workers.IISE Trans Occup Ergon Hum Factors. Published online June 17, 2024. doi:10.1080/24725838.2024.2362720Texas A&M University.Does the type of workstation you use make a difference in your health and productivity?.Park JH, Moon JH, Kim HJ, et al.Sedentary lifestyle: overview of updated evidence of potential health risks.Korean J Fam Med. 2020;41(6):365-373. doi:10.4082/kjfm.20.0165

Lynn Salzar T, Aguilar KN, Smith ML, et al.Stand-capable workstations reduce occupational sedentary time among administrative workers.IISE Trans Occup Ergon Hum Factors. Published online June 17, 2024. doi:10.1080/24725838.2024.2362720

Texas A&M University.Does the type of workstation you use make a difference in your health and productivity?.

Park JH, Moon JH, Kim HJ, et al.Sedentary lifestyle: overview of updated evidence of potential health risks.Korean J Fam Med. 2020;41(6):365-373. doi:10.4082/kjfm.20.0165

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