If you're a fan of standing desks at work, you may want to sit down for this.
The evidence that trendy sit-stand desks make you healthier is weak, according to a review of major studies on the subject.
The findings, published recently in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, comes at a time of fever-pitch alarm over the health dangers associated with prolonged sitting.
Long periods of sitting increase the risk of obesity, heart disease and overall mortality, researchers wrote in their analysis of 20 studies on standing interventions in the workplace. Many public health advocates have even called sitting "the new smoking."
But researchers from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, who analyzed the studies, have concluded that it is unclear whether interventions such as standing desks — or the more ambitious treadmill desk — significantly reduce the amount of sitting time.
"The quality of evidence was very low to low for most interventions mainly because studies were very poorly designed and because they had very few participants," the study authors wrote.
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Allie Shah • 612-673-4488
