There have been a lot of headlines about the health risks associated with sitting too much.
Those who have regular full-time desk jobs have higher rates of obesity, heart disease, and even depression. The association is pretty obvious--if you don't move much for eight hours of the day (and you sleep for another eight hours), you might find that it's harder to keep your body healthy and happy.
This has lead to the "standing desk" revolution where workers actually stand for a large majority of their full-time job. It makes sense--if you're sitting too much, that means you should try to stand more, right?
Not exactly.
To add to the confusion, there are now studies coming out that suggest standing too much can be just as dangerous to your health. For example, when the Washington Post's Sydney Trent began using the popular standing desk, she found that she started to "feel a fleeting numbness" in her toes and lower calf.
"Those uncomfortable sensations were probably a result of hyperextending my knee, which could put too much pressure on the fibular nerve, a branch of the sciatic nerve, which starts behind the knee and runs alongside the fibula, or calf bone," Trent writes, adding that "[i]ronically, this can also occur when you cross your legs a lot while sitting."
Turns out, as The Advisory Board reports, that, "In a 2005 study based in Denmark, standing for 75% of the workday was shown to increase the risk of hospitalization for varicose veins. Meanwhile, a 2000 study found that standing all day can increase the risk of hardening arteries as well."
You just can't win, can you?
But how do you know if you are sitting too much? It's not always entirely apparent.
Check out the video below to find out if you're standing too much:
Video Credit: AsapSCIENCE/YouTube
What do you think about all this? Let us know what you think in the comments!
Photo Copyright © 2014 juhansonin/Flickr
