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Why your standing desk isn’t the health hack you thought it was

Over the past few years, many workplaces and people have hopped on the standing desk trend to promote health in the workplace or office.

But it turns out having a standing desk isn’t really all it’s stood up to be.

“We’ve all heard about how bad being sedentary is to our health, and we think of sedentary as, you know, sitting or laying down,” Dr. Angela Hsu said.

The internist and geriatrician with Kaiser Permanente talked with WTOP about the new study, which would appear to show standing isn’t any better than sitting when it comes to your health.

“They had more than 80,000 patients wear accelerometers,” Hsu said of the study, which was published in the Oxford Academic International Journal of Epidemiology.

What researchers found, she said, is that being stationary while standing versus sitting had no real difference when it came to the cardiovascular health of patients.

But that’s not even the most startling finding.

“Standing without movement is not doing that much better for us, and in fact, might be having other health risks associated, like getting leg swelling and varicose veins, and things like that,” Hsu told WTOP.

She said the study is affirmation that there’s no silver bullet, or secret health hack, when it comes to your heart health — or your health in general.

“The key to improving your cardiovascular outcomes and combating the effects of sedentary lifestyles is to be active and actually moving, and not just standing,” she said.

Hsu said she, and many in the medical community, knows it can be hard during the workday, but there are hacks you can try to stay active.

“Some people will do walking meetings,” she said. “If you can’t do walking meetings, maybe go for a walk between your meetings. If you’re working from home, go outside for a little bit in between, because you have to get that blood flowing. That’s the key.”

Massachusetts court hears arguments in lawsuit alleging Meta designed apps to be addictive to kids

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state's lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users. The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms. “We are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,” said State Solicitor David Kravitz, adding that the state's claim has nothing to do the company's algorithms or failure to moderate content. Meta said Friday that it strongly disagrees with the allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” Its attorney, Mark Mosier, argued in court that the lawsuit “would impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions” and that its actions are protected by the First Amendment.
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