Many people believe that standing is healthier than sitting when it comes to stationary time, but recent research challenges this assumption. This new study reveals that both prolonged sitting and standing may increase risks to heart and circulatory health. Using activity data from a large sample of UK adults, researchers provide new insights into how long periods of both sitting and standing can impact cardiovascular and circulatory conditions. Lead researcher Matthew Ahmadi, along with colleagues from the University of Sydney and Amsterdam UMC, investigated how these common postures affect the risk of major heart and circulatory issues. The study’s findings were recently published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Experts assessed the participants’ habits using wrist-worn devices that measured how much time they spent sitting, standing, and overall stationary time each day. Results showed a clear increase in both heart and circulatory risks when people spent excessive hours sitting. Common circulatory issues, such as poor blood flow and vein problems, were more likely among those who remained stationary for most of the day, whether they were sitting or standing. While standing did not appear to increase heart risks, it did contribute to circulatory issues, raising questions about recommendations to replace sitting with standing.

“Switching from sitting to standing alone may not be enough to reduce major heart risks,” Dr. Ahmadi explained, emphasizing the different health effects linked to each posture. “In fact, standing for long periods daily was directly associated with higher rates of circulatory disease.” Dr. Ahmadi and his team examined data from the UK Biobank, a major health database, studying the stationary behavior of adults in their later years over a span of nearly seven years. During this period, they recorded thousands of cases of both heart disease and circulatory conditions.

Research showed that the more people sat each day beyond a certain threshold, the more their risk of circulatory issues rose. Likewise, sitting for extended periods daily was linked to a steady increase in heart disease. Standing was not connected to heart risk, but when individuals spent much of their day standing, their risk of circulatory problems went up. The findings clearly showed that being stationary for long periods, rather than movement itself, was what contributed to these increased health risks.

Findings from this study suggest that just swapping sitting with standing may not be an effective solution for improving heart and circulation health. The researchers noted that inactivity can lead to poor blood flow and reduced muscle activity, raising the risk of blood pooling in veins, which is a common cause of circulatory issues. Their work underscores the need to incorporate light activities like walking into daily routines to counteract the harmful health effects associated with sitting or standing for long stretches.

Experts ultimately encourage a balance of activity in daily life, with their findings indicating that both excessive sitting and standing carry unique risks. Health strategies may need to focus less on standing as a substitute for sitting and more on integrating light movement throughout the day. The study suggests that moderate, frequent activity might be a more effective approach for reducing the risks that come with prolonged stationary behavior.

Journal Reference

Ahmadi MN, Coenen P, Straker L, and Stamatakis E. “Device-measured stationary behaviour and cardiovascular and orthostatic circulatory disease incidence.” International Journal of Epidemiology, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyae136

About the Author

Dr. Matthew N. Ahmadi is a leading researcher affiliated with the Mackenzie Wearables Research Hub at the Charles Perkins Centre and the School of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney, Australia. His research focuses on wearable technology, particularly in assessing physical behaviors such as sitting, standing, and physical activity, and their impact on long-term health risks, including cardiovascular and circulatory diseases. Dr. Ahmadi’s recent work uses advanced data analysis to understand how these daily behaviors affect risks for conditions like heart disease and orthostatic circulatory disorders, with an emphasis on providing evidence for public health guidelines​.