Effectiveness of an intervention for reducing sitting time and improving health in office workers: three arm cluster RCT, 2022, Edwardson et al.

I think the only benefit is that you would burn a few more calories standing.

 

Walking is good for the back but its using the muscles, standing on the other hand in the same spot in my experience is kind of uncomfortable. The next trendy desk idea will probably be a treadmill standing desk and that might actually bring some benefits.

 

Why not a group trampoline to spice up those meetings? Or some parallel bars? Maybe a unicycle?

 

My gut feeling is that the only benefit of standing desks is to create "busy work" for Human Resources people and to generate income for the various consultants, OTs and physios who make a living from recommending these sorts of gimmicks.

 

I am sure I heard about a firm where every Friday they had a compulsory get together where they exercised as a group. They did fun things and everyone enjoyed themselves and got to know each other.

Almost 60 years ago my mother worked in a factory where everyone spent hours standing in one place. The management gave them a small grant and premises to start a social club which held dances once a month and weekly classes. These got stuck at learning Scottish country dancing because it was such fun. All us kids went along too and it was a riot aided by an old record player, a tattered book and a pile of 78s. The men appointed themselves instructors and shouted out directions.

Fun is much better for health than standing desks.