Standing!

November 2nd, 2024| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

The cure for all your health problems stemming from sitting in front of screen all day at the office? Standing desks, they said.

Not any longer.

Yes, folks who sit all day need to move around. But standing desks, apparently, are not the compensation for inactivity. Or so declared researchers from the Universities of Sydney, and Perth, and from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, in “Device-Measured Stationary Behaviour and Cardiovascular and Orthostatic Circulatory Disease Incidence,” published in the International Journal of Epidemiology recently, derived from a study of over 83,000 UK adults.

These people did not have heart disease at the start of the study and wore devices on their wrists to track movement. Standing was not found to reduce the risk of heart conditions such as stroke, heart failure and coronary heart disease, the researchers said. In fact, standing too long may cause more problems: for every extra 30 minutes spent standing beyond two hours, the risk of circulatory disease increased by 11%.

Time spent standing was not associated with CVD risk but was associated with higher orthostatic circulatory disease risk. … Collectively, our findings indicate increasing standing time as a prescription may not lower major CVD risk and may lead to higher orthostatic circulatory disease risk.”

I.e., issues with swollen veins, blood clots, etc., especially with being on your feet for more than two hours a day.

Dr Matthew Ahmadi, of the University of Sydney, and first author:

The key takeaway is that standing for too long will not offset an otherwise sedentary lifestyle and could be risky for some people in terms of circulatory health. We found that standing more does not improve cardiovascular health over the long-term and increases the risk of circulatory issues.”

Prof Emmanuel Stamatakis, also of the University of Sydney, and senior author on the study:

For people who sit for long periods on a regular basis, including plenty of incidental movement throughout the day and structured exercise may be a better way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, than just standing. Take regular breaks, walk around, go for a walking meeting, use the stairs, take regular breaks when driving long distances, or use that lunch hour to get away from the desk and do some movement.”

All that to say, standing still at your desk is, in essence, just as ‘sedentary’ as sitting. Instead of forcing yourself to stand all day, these researchers recommend trying to fit 30 minutes of moderate-to-strenuous exercise into your schedule.

But there is one kind of standing that Bible recommends:

Being made to stand … by God:

For who is God, except Yahweh?
and who is a rock, besides our God—
the God who girds me with strength
and makes my path blameless?
He makes my feet like deers’,
and upon my high places stands me.
Psalm 18:33–35

Standing … before God:

Praise Yah:
praise the name of Yahweh;
praise, servants of Yahweh,
the ones who are standing in the house of Yahweh,
in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise Yah, for Yahweh [is] good;
make music to His name, for it is pleasant.
Psalm 135:1–3

And standing … for God:

But I—in my integrity I will walk;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on a level place;
in the assemblies I will bless Yahweh.
Psalm 26:11–12

SOURCES: The Guardian; International Journal of Epidemiology