About a year after the start of the pandemic, I noticed that I was doing nothing but sitting all day. Without exaggeration! I took care of myself for about a week and found out that I spend 12 hours a day on a chair in front of a laptop, on the couch or at the kitchen table.
At the same time, I used to be very active. For example, she easily walked 10 thousand steps every day, getting to work, walking during her lunch break or winding circles along the office corridor with the phone by her ear. But in 2020‑ all these habits disappeared. I think I stopped getting up at all. The only exceptions were walks with the dog and infrequent trips to the store.
I wanted to discuss this situation with an expert. After talking with the physiotherapist Fung Tran, I found out that the habit of spending a lot of time sitting, to put it mildly, is unsafe Are Standing Desks Better for You? / Cleveland Clinic . With this lifestyle, it is easy to gain excess weight — up to obesity, and you can also get cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. But there is a healthier alternative — not to sit, but to stand.
Standing up, we burn more calories. In addition, glucose metabolism and blood circulation are improved, and risks to the cardiovascular system are reduced. And the muscles are in good shape.
Fung's words made an impression on me, and I decided to stand for at least three hours every day for a week. Here's what came out of it.
The purpose of the experiment was simple: I wanted to feel energetic and healthy again, as before, before the pandemic. And, in principle, this goal was achieved.
It turns out that if you forbid yourself to sit down, you can walk even in a tiny apartment. For example, I answered calls by cutting circles around the bedroom. For comparison: to talk on the phone, I would not get up from a sitting position. Also, moving around the room, I watched TV series.
I talked to nutritionist‑nutritionist Laura Gilstrap about how this will affect weight. According to her, standing a person burns 100-200 kcal per hour. For comparison, when we sit, we spend only from 60 to 130 kcal — that is, almost half as much.
When we stand, the muscles tense up and consume more energy.
According to other data Standing several hours a day could help you lose weight, Mayo Clinic research finds / Mayo Clinic , the difference in calorie consumption is not so great: only 0.15 kcal per minute. That is, for an hour spent on his feet, the average person will burn only 9 kcal more.
Unpleasant and even painful sensations appeared to me a few months after the start of the forced quarantine imprisonment. It looked like I had overtrained or awkwardly performed some physical exercise. Although there was no training, or even just walking in my life at that time. I wondered if the pain could be the result of sitting and looking at the screen too much.
In search of an answer to this question, I turned to the physiotherapist Alice Holland. And I found out: there really is a connection. When we sit, the spine experiences an increased load. If you spend a long time in this position every day, it can lead to protrusion and even a herniated disc — a common cause of back pain.
The load on the spine increases if you sit without controlling your posture. By the way, it is much safer to stand in this sense.
In the standing position, people tend to unconsciously straighten their backs.
When I started standing for three hours a day, my back began to bother me much less. My neck stopped aching. And it also seemed to me that the pressure on the vertebrae decreased.
I honestly admit: it was difficult at first. Firstly, it was difficult to remember every time that it was necessary to get up. Secondly, it was much more convenient to sit slouched in an armchair. As a result, by the end of the first day I felt exhausted.
However, by the third day everything had changed. I felt like I had more energy.
After a week during which I spent three hours on my feet every day, my health has clearly improved. And the discomfort also disappeared: by the end of this quest, I was easily watching a TV show or answering work emails standing up.
I hope to keep this habit. But in the future I will not adhere so strictly to the rule about the daily three hours. According to physiotherapist Karen Wu, standing too long can be harmful.
When you stand for a long time, the load on the joints increases dramatically. From time to time, you need to give your legs a rest.
On the advice of a physiotherapist, I decided to take 10‑minute breaks and rest sitting or lying down after every hour spent standing. Everything should be in moderation.
