If you’re a standing desk enthusiast, you might want to rethink how much time you spend on your feet. Why? A new study published in the journalMedicine & Science in Sports & Exercisefound thatstanding for long periods of time at work may actually be bad for yourblood pressure.

Researchers analyzed data from 156 workers with a median age of 62.4 from the Finnish Retirement and Aging study. The participants wore accelerometers to track how often they stood, weresedentary, and did light and moderate-to-vigorous physical exercise. They also had their blood pressure taken.

People who were more sedentary at work had lowerdiastolic blood pressureat night. Those who stood for longer periods of time at work had higher diastolic blood pressure during the day and fewer dips in their blood pressure.Diastolic blood pressure is the bottom number in a reading, and measures the pressure in your arteries when the heart is resting and filling with blood.

Researchers concluded that being sedentary at work was linked with better diastolic blood pressure in older adults than standing and being physically active.

To make matters confusing, sitting for long periods of time at work has also been linked to a 34% higher risk of death fromheart diseaseand a 16% higher risk of death from all causes, according to research published inJAMA Network Open.So, is there a middle ground to aim for?

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Is Standing Really Bad For Your Blood Pressure?

Standing isn’t bad, per se, but being upright for long periods of time can cause changes in the body that may impact blood pressure,according toJooa Norha, MSc, lead study author and a doctoral researcher at the University of Turku in Finland.

“Due to the effect of gravity, blood starts to pool in the legs and feet, which leaves less blood to the upper body,” Norha told Verywell. Blood vessels contract in response, and the heart pumps harder to maintain blood flow in the upper body. “These mechanisms increase blood pressure,” he added.

That may impact blood pressure over time. “Excessive standing may also prevent the normal fall in blood pressure at night, which leaves the blood pressure slightly elevated both day and night,” Norha said. “Over time, this could lead to stiffening of the blood vessels, which further increases blood pressure overall.”

Lower blood pressure in sedentary workers may simply reflect that they “biologically age” faster than their more active counterparts, saidJames A. S. Muldowney III, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute.

“In older adults, the blood vessels get stiffer, and the diastolic blood pressure drops,” he added. “This explanation would fit with the traditional teaching and a significant amount of medical evidence that moderate exercise is protective against cardiovascular events.”

Still, this isn’t the first study to link standing at work with a higher risk of heart disease. Data from more than 7,000 workers across different occupations in Canada showed that people who mostly stood on the job were twice as likely to develop heart disease as those who mostly sat.

There could be other reasons for those findings, though,Neel Chokshi, MD, director of the Center for Digital Cardiology at Penn Medicine, told Verywell. “It’s possible that if you stand more at work, your job may be more stressful," he said.

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How Much Should You Sit and Stand at Work?

The findings don’t mean you should avoid standing at work, saidItalo Biaggioni, MD, director of the Vanderbilt Autonomic Dysfunction Center. “Standing is good for you, but too much of a good thing might not be good for you,” he told Verywell. “The answer is not to sit down all day.”

Instead, Chokshi said, “Build in standing, walking, or even more rigorous exercises in your workday, especially if you have a job withprolonged sitting, as this benefits your overall heart risk.”

Genetic Risk Factors for High Blood Pressure

What This Means For YouResearch shows that sitting or standing for long periods of time at work isn’t ideal for overall health. Finding a middle ground of sitting, standing, and moving during your workday is best—and get regular exercise for your heart health.

What This Means For You

Research shows that sitting or standing for long periods of time at work isn’t ideal for overall health. Finding a middle ground of sitting, standing, and moving during your workday is best—and get regular exercise for your heart health.

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.Norha J, Suorsa K, Heinonen OJ, et al.Associations between leisure and work time activity behavior and 24 h ambulatory blood pressure among aging workers.Med Sci Sports Exerc. Published online November 6, 2024. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003594Gao W, Sanna M, Chen YH, Tsai MK, Wen CP.Occupational sitting time, leisure physical activity, and all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality.JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(1):e2350680. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.50680Smith P, Ma H, Glazier RH, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard C.The relationship between occupational standing and sitting and incident heart disease over a 12-year period in Ontario, Canada.Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(1):27-33. doi:10.1093/aje/kwx298

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.Norha J, Suorsa K, Heinonen OJ, et al.Associations between leisure and work time activity behavior and 24 h ambulatory blood pressure among aging workers.Med Sci Sports Exerc. Published online November 6, 2024. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003594Gao W, Sanna M, Chen YH, Tsai MK, Wen CP.Occupational sitting time, leisure physical activity, and all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality.JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(1):e2350680. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.50680Smith P, Ma H, Glazier RH, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard C.The relationship between occupational standing and sitting and incident heart disease over a 12-year period in Ontario, Canada.Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(1):27-33. doi:10.1093/aje/kwx298

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.

Norha J, Suorsa K, Heinonen OJ, et al.Associations between leisure and work time activity behavior and 24 h ambulatory blood pressure among aging workers.Med Sci Sports Exerc. Published online November 6, 2024. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003594Gao W, Sanna M, Chen YH, Tsai MK, Wen CP.Occupational sitting time, leisure physical activity, and all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality.JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(1):e2350680. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.50680Smith P, Ma H, Glazier RH, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard C.The relationship between occupational standing and sitting and incident heart disease over a 12-year period in Ontario, Canada.Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(1):27-33. doi:10.1093/aje/kwx298

Norha J, Suorsa K, Heinonen OJ, et al.Associations between leisure and work time activity behavior and 24 h ambulatory blood pressure among aging workers.Med Sci Sports Exerc. Published online November 6, 2024. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003594

Gao W, Sanna M, Chen YH, Tsai MK, Wen CP.Occupational sitting time, leisure physical activity, and all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality.JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(1):e2350680. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.50680

Smith P, Ma H, Glazier RH, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Mustard C.The relationship between occupational standing and sitting and incident heart disease over a 12-year period in Ontario, Canada.Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(1):27-33. doi:10.1093/aje/kwx298

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