There is evidence that standing is better for the human body than sitting. For work we have standing desks for computer work and such. Some aim to stand 8+ hours a day.
What about for other activities? How do the unemployed, retired, and homemarkers get in enough standing? Are there good ways to stand while reading a book, or sipping a coffee and enjoying the dawn?
If you’ve ever worked a job where you stand in the same place for 8+ hours, you know that it can also be rough on the body. The current advice that I see floating around is to change your position at least every hour.
If you want to be healthier, do the physical exercise that your body can do. Walk instead of drive, and take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Ergonomics/workplace safety officer here; you’re quite correct. The idea that sitting is the new smoking ignored the detail in the epidemiology: Inactivity is the real problem.
When I was unemployed I used to walk waaaay more than I do now - both to get to places and just as a hobby - and I’d hope to do the same when retired, as long as I am fit enough. That’s walking though. Standing in one place is something that I find extremely wearing and have never done when not necessary. As I understand it this is fundamental to the nature of bipeds. To stand still, we constantly need to adjust balance. However, when walking, it is basically a continuous, controlled fall forwards, and takes less energy. For quadrupeds, it is the other way around: they are stable when standing, but require constant effort to walk or run.
I probably spend most of my reading time horizontal rather than sitting, but if I am reading when vertical then, again, it will be walking - or pacing around - rather than standing. I would seem really weird to simply stand there and read.
really weird to simply stand there and read
Agreed. I am going for a way around that strangeness to increase my active standing time.
Walking is great!
I am thinking about getting a tall cafe table. I would like to test the idea first.
Go to an appliance store and ask them for a refrigerator box or water heater box. You can use a knife to cut it to the same height as the table you’re considering, then use it for a bit to see how it suits your lifestyle.
If it works, you can toss the box and buy the table.
I almost never sit down when I’m at home. I cook standing, wash dishes standing, fold laundry standing, eat standing. I often play videogames and read standing, though that can be bad for posture if you’re not holding it out in front of you.
Do you have a tall table to aid with the eating while standing?
No, I just hold my plate.
I eat all my meals standing, unless I’m at a restaurant or something.
I eat at the kitchen counter
Probably the best way would be eliminating reliance on cars and creating walkable neighborhoods with stores, restaurants, and services within walking distance, in the US anyway. Did people ever, throughout human history, just stand around the house?
