Standing desks may not be a boon for health after all

• Standing-desk companies are expected to steadily increase their revenue over the next decade.
• A study suggests they may not help reduce the risk of cardiovascular issues like heart disease.
• It found that standing for more than two hours a day may increase the risk of circulation issues.

A few months into the pandemic, my husband bought us a convertible standing desk. We were both working from home, and aside from our daily jogs together, we were slouching in our respective work corners for hours.

Suddenly, more and more of my coworkers were towering in their Zoom calls. We made small talk about how our new standing desks helped with our posture and prevented us from sitting all day.

The trend hasn’t died down. The market-research firm Global Market Insights estimated that the standing-desk market was valued at $7.8 billion in 2023 and could increase by 5.5% annually over the next decade. Top retailers like Autonomous, FlexiSpot, and Uplift generate millions of dollars in revenue each year. In its branding materials, Autonomous suggests that “by promoting movement, these desks help you stay active and prevent pain.”

But after a while, instead of hitting the button to elevate my desk, I found myself sitting all day after my morning workout. While some of my colleagues felt more energized standing at their desks for three hours, I did not.

A study published on Thursday confronted my conundrum. Ultimately, it suggests that if you’re using a standing desk to feel more active and boost your health, the trick is to actually use it to move more, frequently standing and sitting.

Using data from more than 80,000 adults in the UK, the researchers found that simply standing didn’t necessarily help get people’s blood circulating. They also suggest that standing all day — without moving around — may increase the risk of circulatory issues.

Sitting or standing for over 2 hours may not be good for health

The team, led by researchers at the University of Sydney, studied data on 83,013 adults in the UK Biobank, a large database with information about people’s genetics, lifestyle, and health. The participants wore accelerometer devices on their wrists to track their movements for one week.

The authors concluded that sitting for 10 to 12 hours a day was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and orthostatic circulatory disease, such as varicose veins.

Standing for two hours a day wasn’t associated with a reduced risk of cardiac conditions like heart failure, stroke, or heart disease — it didn’t seem to have much of an effect on cardiovascular health.

The study did find that standing for two hours straight was associated with a higher risk of orthostatic circulatory disease, increasing by 11% every additional 30 minutes. The authors suggested that standing for too long every day could lead to long-term issues with blood circulation, such as venous ulcers and swollen veins.

It’s best to move throughout the day

Desks that let you switch between standing and sitting, such as standing-desk converters, can help you change up how you work without committing to one position all day. Home-office upgrades such as under-desk treadmills can also make it easier to squeeze in movement throughout the day.

Other researchers have recommended walking for 22 minutes a day, which can be incorporated into doing household chores or taking the stairs, to help offset the health risks of sitting for long periods.

And for those who’ve felt guilty about never actually raising their standing desk (me), we can feel validated that we’re likely not missing out on major health benefits — as long as we take time to walk away from our chairs every day.