Benefits and Drawbacks of Standing Desks

A lot of people have heard that “sitting is the new smoking”, since a lot of research (and headlines, like those in the Globe and Mail and CNN) shows that being sedentary increases risk of premature death more than even smoking. This applies even if you exercise. So a lot of people and companies have gone on to get standing desks. But is that a good idea?

That’s what we’ll discuss in this article. After all, just as with anything, there’s benefits and drawbacks. And you need to know how to maximize the benefits, and minimize the drawbacks, to get the best possible utility out of anything.

One thing that I won’t cover in this newsletter is whether it’s true that sitting is the new smoking. The short answer: it’s not. The longer answer: it gives me an idea for a future article 😉

THE BENEFITS

Benefit #1: You Burn More Calories

Standing burns anywhere from 20–100% more calories compared to sitting (depending on which source you read). Generally speaking, you burn about 1 calorie per minute when sitting. So if you stand all day long, you burn about 1.2–2 calories per minute. Not a heck of a lot, but over an 8-hour work day, it adds up.

Plus, when it comes to weight loss, what you do outside of the gym matters a whole lot more than what you do inside it (it’s a different story for muscle building/toning/getting stronger though. With that, yeah, what you do in the gym matters a lot).