--- title: Want a Standing Desk? Show This Study to Your Boss description: Desks that can be adjusted for sitting or standing may help workers stand more, improving health and job performance, a new study says. canonical: https://time.com/5420362/standing-desk-health-benefits/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-10T22:30:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:42:02.552Z article:section: Health og:title: Want a Standing Desk? Show This Study to Your Boss og:description: They may help you be better at your job og:url: https://time.com/5420362/standing-desk-health-benefits/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e0c87989252396/69893c4c8fd2ee6d8a35cd6f/gettyimages-841821570.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6016 og:image:height: 3384 og:image:alt: work desk og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Want a Standing Desk? Show This Study to Your Boss twitter:description: They may help you be better at your job twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e0c87989252396/69893c4c8fd2ee6d8a35cd6f/gettyimages-841821570.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Want a Standing Desk? Show This Study to Your Boss > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Oct 10, 2018 10:30 PM UTC  Tablet, smart phone and computer keyboard with working place elements. The white table contains notebook, pen, black coffee mug along with tablet and mobile phone. White lay with copy space to add your content. Tablet, smart phone and computer keyboard with working place elements. The white table contains notebook, pen, black coffee mug along with tablet and mobile phone. White lay with copy space to add your content. Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Oct 10, 2018 10:30 PM UTC Standing desks became trendy because of their ability to [cut into your sitting time](http://time.com/4637898/sitting-aging-sedentary/), thereby [improving your health and wellness](http://time.com/5127723/weight-loss-standing-desk/) in the workplace. And a small [new study](http://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k3870) says the benefits don’t stop there: standing desks may actually improve your job performance, too. Office workers who used desks that could be adjusted for sitting or standing reported significant reductions in the amount of time they spent sitting, better health and improved work performance at the end of a year-long trial, compared to employees who sat at their desks as usual. The results were published Wednesday in _the BMJ._ The study involved 146 people who worked in office roles at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust in the U.K. Seventy-six participants were given sit-stand desks and completed training meant to encourage less sitting at work, including an educational seminar, individual coaching sessions and even a smart seat cushion, which reminded people to stand by vibrating. People in the other group didn’t get any coaching and worked at their desks as normal. Everyone’s sitting and standing time was measured by a device worn continuously on the thigh at the start of the study, and again at three, six and 12 months into the trial. At the start of the study, people sat for an average of 9.7 hours each day, including time at home. But over the course of the year, people in the intervention group began sitting much less than people in the control group: After three months, they spent 50 fewer minutes seated each day. That number grew over time. After six months, they sat for 64 fewer minutes than the control group, and after a year, they sat for 82 fewer minutes. Those reductions may translate to real health benefits, the researchers write, [since a recent research review](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29589226) linked sitting more than eight hours per day to a heightened risk of early death and cardiovascular disease. Type 2 diabetes risk also appears to increase the longer you sit each day. The researchers also measured mental health and job performance in the new study. By the end of the trial, they found that people using sit-stand desks were more engaged at work and better at their jobs than their chair-bound peers, with less job-related fatigue, less daily anxiety and higher overall quality of life. They also reported fewer lower back issues than the control group. The research suggests that sit-stand desks, which can be adjusted throughout the day, may be a better option than either static sitting or standing desks. While too much sedentary time is a bad thing, [some research](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140139.2017.1420825?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=terg20) also suggests that [being on your feet all day](http://time.com/3903429/sitting-exercise/) can take a toll on everything from physical comfort to productivity. The results of the new study will need to be replicated in a larger group of people. But they provide a compelling argument for adjustable desks — at least when employees are motivated enough to use them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5420362/standing-desk-health-benefits/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5420362/standing-desk-health-benefits/"},"headline":"Want a Standing Desk? 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