The evidence that standing up is good for you goes back to at least the 1950s when a study was done comparing bus conductors (who stand) with bus drivers (who don’t). This study, published in the Lancet, showed that the bus conductors had around half the risk of developing heart disease of the bus drivers.
Since then prolonged sitting has not only been linked to problems with blood glucose control, but also a sharp reduction in the activity of an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase, which breaks down blood fats and makes them available as a fuel to the muscles. This reduction in enzyme activity leads to raised levels of triglycerides and fats in the blood, increasing the risk of heart disease.
The numbers behind the standing vs. sitting comparison tell quite a story:
[Standing instead of sitting] adds up to about 50 calories an hour. If you stand for three hours a day for five days that’s around 750 calories burnt. Over the course of a year it would add up to about 30,000 extra calories, or around 8lb of fat.
“If you want to put that into activity levels… then that would be the equivalent of running about 10 marathons a year. Just by standing up three or four hours in your day at work.”
– Dr. John Buckley, head of the team from the University of Chester in the UK studying the topic
Read More: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24532996
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