Standing desks

A standing desk, or sit-stand desk, lets you switch between sitting and standing during the workday. The research supports it as a way to break up sitting, not as a way to stand all day. Sit-stand desks reduce sitting time and, in trials, reduce fatigue and musculoskeletal discomfort. Standing for long uninterrupted stretches brings its own back and leg discomfort. The goal is changing position often.

Do standing desks work?

Evidence	Finding
Cochrane review, 34 studies, 3,397 workers	People with sit-stand desks sat 84 to 116 minutes less per working day, with less prolonged sitting; very low quality evidence, and no harms found such as more pain or lower productivity1
Randomised crossover trial	Alternating sitting and standing every 30 minutes cut lower back discomfort by about a third and reduced fatigue2
Six month cluster trial, 38 office workers	Fatigue, need for recovery and musculoskeletal discomfort improved with sit-stand desks, but sitting time was not lower than in the control group at six months3

Is standing better than sitting?

Not on its own. A review of laboratory studies found that clinically relevant lower back discomfort appeared after about 71 minutes of uninterrupted standing, and after about 42 minutes in people prone to it.⁴ Standing for hours replaces one static position with another. See prolonged standing.

How long to stand

There is no proven ideal ratio. What the trials support:

• Switch every 20 to 30 minutes. That is the interval used in the trial that reduced discomfort.²
• Keep standing bouts under an hour, given how quickly standing discomfort builds.⁴
• Start small, for example two or three standing blocks in the morning, and build up.
• Move while standing: shift your weight, walk during calls.

Details of break timing are in how often to take sitting breaks.

How to set up a standing desk

1. Standing height: desk at elbow height with your shoulders relaxed, wrists straight.
2. Screen: top at or just below eye level. Re-check it when you switch, because the desk moves the screen too unless it is on its own arm.
3. Feet: supportive shoes, or an anti-fatigue mat on a hard floor.
4. Sitting height: save both heights as presets if the desk allows, so switching takes one press.
5. Prompts: a reminder helps, because most people stop switching after the first weeks.³

The sitting position is the same as in the desk setup checklist.

Alternatives that also break up sitting

• Standing for calls and reading.
• Walking meetings.
• A short walk every hour.
• Moving the printer, water or bin a short walk away.

None of these needs new furniture, and they target the same thing: the length of each sitting bout.

Footnotes

1. Workplace interventions for reducing sitting at work (Cochrane review). 2018. ↩

2. Breaking up workplace sitting time with intermittent standing bouts improves fatigue and musculoskeletal discomfort. 2014. ↩ ↩²

3. The effectiveness of a 6-month intervention with sit-stand workstations in office workers (SUFHA cluster RCT). 2024. ↩ ↩²

4. Associations of prolonged standing with musculoskeletal symptoms: a systematic review of laboratory studies. 2017. ↩ ↩²