Standing vs. Sitting: which is better?

You’ve probably heard the fairly conventional wisdom that, all else being equal, standing is better for you than sitting. But the science behind that claim has sometimes been unclear or even

contradictory — a fact a recent analysis of dozens of studies tries to clear up. Its conclusion: Standing can help, but the results appear fairly modest. The metanalysis, by Mayo Clinic

researchers, concluded that standing for six hours a day burns an extra 54 calories. Over the course of a year, that could translate to a weight loss of more than five pounds, assuming a

person did not consume extra calories to make up for those lost. “Overall, our study shows that, when you put all the available scientific evidence together, standing accounts for more

calories burned than sitting,” Farzane Saeidifard, a study author and cardiology fellow at the clinic, said in a statement. The study, published in the _European Journal of Preventive

Cardiology_, was the first review and metanalysis to look at the difference between sitting and standing. It pulled in data from 46 studies involving 1,184 participants. “Standing for long

periods of time for many adults may seem unmanageable, especially those who have desk jobs, but, for the person who sits for 12 hours a day, cutting sitting time to half would give great

benefits,” said cardiologist Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, another of the study’s authors. The authors also said more research was needed to determine the longer-term effectiveness and health

implications of standing for longer periods. The analysis also provides some support to the benefits of even moderate physical activities in daily life. Researchers have been more closely

studying the benefits of what is called non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), or calories burned through normal daily activities. “Standing is one of the components of NEAT, and the

results of our study support this theory,” Lopez-Jimenez said. “The idea is to work into our daily routines some lower-impact activities that can improve our long-term health.”