Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Standing Desks Are Trendy, But Do They Really Help You Lose Weight? Not So Much.
Los Angeles Times: This Is How Many Pounds You Can Lose In A Year By Standing For Six Hours A Day Instead Of Sitting
Brace yourself: The calorie-burning benefits of standing versus sitting will not, at first blush, blow you out of your seat. Spend a minute upright instead of seated, and the additional energy expended amounts to less than one-tenth of a calorie (0.04 of a calorie, to be exact). But a new study that combines the best available research on sitting, standing and energy expenditure invites readers (reclining and otherwise) to consider the potential long-term effects of this seemingly marginal difference. (Healy, 1/31)
Bloomberg: Do Standing Desks Really Help You Lose Weight?
Are standing desks really doing us any good? That question has divided workplaces since sitting started going out of fashion about five years ago. Our sedentary lifestyles were killing us, so standing, the thinking went, was the logical antidote. Sitting too long has been associated with diabetes, hypertension, some forms of cancer, anxiety and a generally greater probability of early death. However, a few years and hundreds of studies later, the naysayers began arguing that the benefits of standing had been exaggerated. (Greenfield, 2/1)
