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Comment by shingen | Hacker News Reader

The evidence is that sitting down for hours per day is extraordinarily destructive to various aspects of your body, including your metabolism, circulation, oxygen distribution, and that it increases the risk of diabetes (and cancer due to consequence of fat gain from a slower metabolism). I believe (per what I've read on the subject) that it also significantly increases the risk of heart attack and stroke due to a collapse in normal / healthy function of the cardiovascular system.

The data on it is rather common these days, a quick google will turn up several high profile write-ups from sources such as the NY Times.

And if we're just talking logical extrapolation - it makes sense that humans wouldn't benefit from sitting down all day, as it wasn't common to our evolution / how our bodies are designed to work. Caveman Joe didn't sit on his rock for 12 hours typing.

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Correct, but the evidence does not indicate that standing for hours a day is any better for overall health than sitting. What I really want is a walk-around desk ... but I'll grant that I might be more likely to move around periodically if I'm already standing.

When I'm standing up I tend to move about more and wander off while I'm thinking about stuff. I definitely get more exercise than when I'm sitting down.

Perhaps, but there are only two possibilities (that I see).

1) Standing is radically more healthy than sitting, or 2) Being upright and walking / moving, is what is radically more healthy than sitting

I think that part of the problem with sitting is the blocking of the circulation system through slightly crimping the arteries in your legs. It strikes me that just standing up alone would relieve a lot of that stress and assist the free flow of blood and oxygen.

So if you want to play it safe, stand up, and move about regularly. If you're standing at your desk, I'd argue it's far more likely you'll move about regularly as you're working on problems throughout the day.

I've read previously that the average American used to walk three to five miles per day a hundred years ago, and that's down to a small fraction of that now.

  > 1) Standing is radically more healthy than sitting

People who spend their days on their feet may not agree with you there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varicose_veins

I'd counter argue that the common negative health effects of sitting down far outweigh the common health effects of varicose veins (from that wiki):

"Most varicose veins are relatively benign, but severe varicosities can lead to major complications, due to the poor circulation through the affected limb."

I think the positive evidence for standing versus sitting is overwhelming to put it lightly.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39523298/ns/health-mens_health/t...

"This isn't actually a new discovery. In a British study published in 1953, scientists examined two groups of workers: bus drivers and trolley conductors. At first glance, the two occupations appeared to be pretty similar. But while the bus drivers were more likely to sit down for their entire day, the trolley conductors were running up and down the stairs and aisles of the double-decker trolleys. As it turned out, the bus drivers were nearly twice as likely to die of heart disease as the conductors were."

Running up and down stairs and aisles all day != standing all day.

The general warning of "correlation not causation" applies here. The studies show some correlation between sitting for hours and various maladies. However, there are so many factors that determine your susceptibility to the health issues you mention that calling out just one factor (sitting) needs to be viewed with some skepticism.

That said, I do use a standing desk for about half of my working hours because I think it is healthier to not sit all day.

I believe there is overwhelming proof of causation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17sitting-t.h...

http://4.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sitting-down-...

There have been countless studies done at this point, spanning decades, directly linking severe health effects to sitting down. Particularly radical increases in the risk of heart attack and other severe cardiovascular trauma.

How many medical studies do you need? There seems to be a new study out monthly at this point proving the link between sitting down 8 hours per day and radically increased risk of death.

Unless you think the people sitting down all happen to be the ones carrying an inherently heightened risk of heart attack. See the 1953 British study I referenced above as a simple example. Recent modern studies have found the same results: sitting all day effectively doubles your risk of dying from a heart attack.

> The evidence is that sitting down for hours per day is extraordinarily destructive to various aspects of your body

That's a bit of an exaggeration. Each day, hundreds of thousands of people sit at their desk for hours, and it's been going on for decades. If it was that destructive, the developer population would have been decimated by now.

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