Which is better, a standing workstation or a seated workstation? This is a common question, yet there is no simple answer. Sitting vs. standing while working has been the focus of several recent media reports due to published data suggesting that prolonged standing burns more calories than sitting, and that prolonged sitting is associated with a wide variety of health issues.

Why are we interested in burning more calories during the day? The rate of obesity has been rising steadily in America during the past several decades, and it is associated with our sedentary lifestyles. Individuals sit, on average, for 14 hours and 39 minutes per day, mostly at work. When not sitting, many of us are also considered physically inactive because 60 percent of us perform less than 2.5 hours of physical activity per week.

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