How working standing up could help you lose weight

Standing up for an extra three hours a day at work could burn 144 calories

Office workers wanting to lose weight should push away their chairs and do their work standing up, according to new research. Standing up for three hours extra each day could burn up to 144 calories, which would equate to a total loss of 8lbs per year, Dr. John Buckley from the University of Chester has estimated. ‘People are sitting down at work, then sitting in the car and then sitting down in front of the television,’ Dr Buckley told BBC News. ‘Your metabolic rate crashes to an absolute minimum. It isn't natural. Humans are designed to stand up and keep moving.' Dr. Buckley has also found that standing up at work would effectively boost circulation, as well as combat sluggishness and lethargy in the workplace. The researcher, from the department of clinical sciences and nutrition at the University of Chester, is currently working with England’s chief medical officer on ways to tackle obesity. He suggested that office workers invest in chest-height desks to type up work and send emails, much like those favoured by Ernest Hemingway, who famously championed working standing up. In a letter in 1950, the prolific author wrote: 'Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up.' The findings follow a series of recent reports that have warned of the dangers of our increasingly sedentary working lifestyles, including a report published late last year that revealed a link between too much time sat down and an increased risk of developing diabetes.

Would you try standing up more at work to lose weight? Let us know in the comments below.

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