I know this is way off this thread's main topic of boosting metabolic health, but this part struck me:
Quote:
“I was getting sore from sitting so much,” she recalls.
Hoping to make a small dent, she asked Stanford to add a few standing desks in the back of their classrooms. The administration shot down the idea, but told her they’d reconsider if she returned with convincing data.
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Providing
adjustable desks would have probably been a good thing, but desks that are only for standing? Probably not a good idea.
Several years ago, there were offices that converted 100% to standing only desks. No sitting while at work. No place to sit all day long. The research supposedly showed that it improved worker's efficiency and such.
The problem is that standing all day every day to work turned out to be very hard on the workers joints, as well as causing blood and fluid to pool in the lower extremities, varicose veins, leg pain, back and neck pain, and cardiovascular problems.
I can certainly verify just how hard it is on a body to stand all day every day - working at a grocery store where I was given no choice but to stand all day every day, and it was indeed very hard on me physically. If you're normal weight, it's still bad - worse for someone who is overweight or obese, because of the additional pressure on all the joints and back, and even worse if you already have health issues. (In retail, at least in the US, sitting at all is considered a sign of laziness... never mind that Aldi cashiers always sit while scanning groceries - and they're the fastest cashiers ever.)
She's very right about needing to get up and move throughout the day though. It's just as unnatural to sit in one spot all day long as it is to stand all day long. And I don't think either extreme is good for metabolic health - or health in general.