Standing at Work Linked to Worse Blood Pressure

For years, we’ve been instructed that “sitting is the brand new smoking”—however new analysis exhibits that standing may take a toll on our well being, too.

A brand new research, printed final month in Medication & Science in Sports activities & Train, discovered that standing at work for prolonged durations of time had a detrimental impression on individuals’ blood strain over the course of 24 hours. On the identical time, spending extra time seated at work was related to more healthy blood strain.

“We all know that bodily exercise is useful in sustaining wholesome blood strain ranges,” research co-author Jooa Norha, a doctoral researcher on the College of Turku, instructed Well being. “Nevertheless, some earlier research counsel that being lively at work might in actual fact be detrimental, whereas leisure-time actions are good for you.”

Right here’s what consultants needed to say concerning the new analysis, why it’s necessary to take breaks from each sitting and standing, and methods to raised defend your well being at work.

The brand new research, carried out by Norha and different researchers on the College of Turku in Finland, was based mostly on knowledge from 156 staff ranging in age from 60 to 64. Over 80% of the individuals had been girls, and 75% had “non-manual” jobs.

The researchers checked out individuals’ blood strain over the course of a 24-hour interval, particularly analyzing how these readings modified based mostly on whether or not folks had been sedentary or lively at work, throughout leisure time, and on non-work days.

To do that, individuals had been requested to put on exercise trackers on their thighs to measure their exercise, which was grouped into considered one of 4 classes:

• Sedentary (together with mendacity and sitting)
• Standing
• Mild bodily exercise (together with sluggish strolling and shifting)
• Reasonable-to-vigorous bodily exercise (together with quick strolling, working, biking, and stair climbing)

In addition they wore moveable displays that measured their blood strain each half-hour for twenty-four hours.

“With this setup, we had been in a position to see how exercise is linked to blood strain over the entire day and night time, as a substitute of only a single measurement,” mentioned Norha.

The information confirmed that variations in how a lot folks moved at work, specifically, was related to both a greater or worse 24-hour blood strain studying.

Individuals who primarily remained seated at work had a decrease—and due to this fact more healthy—24-hour diastolic blood strain. (Diastolic blood strain is the second or backside quantity in a blood strain studying.) In the meantime, individuals who spent extra time on their toes at work, both standing or partaking in mild bodily exercise, had worse 24-hour diastolic blood strain readings.

Researchers didn’t discover any associations between blood strain and folks’s exercise ranges throughout their leisure time or on non-work days.

Although there have been numerous research wanting into the connection between exercise ranges and cardiovascular well being, Norha mentioned this analysis stands out as a result of it makes use of a extra exact 24-hour blood strain measurement.

“The 24-hour measurement offers us higher perception into how the blood strain ranges change all through the day,” he mentioned. “If blood strain is barely excessive all through the day and it stays excessive at night time, the pressure on the guts and blood vessels might trigger heart problems in the long run.”

Nevertheless, the research does have some limitations as properly. As a result of the individuals had been older Finnish adults, it’s unclear if these findings would apply to different ages and demographics—particularly since, as a gaggle, they had been extra lively and had much less hypertension than the overall inhabitants. Moreover, solely 1 / 4 of the individuals labored in handbook jobs, which may have skewed the outcomes.

The explanation why standing for lengthy durations of time can have an effect on cardiovascular well being is kind of easy: It might probably trigger blood to pool within the legs, mentioned Norha.

“To keep up satisfactory blood circulate in the remainder of the physique, the blood vessels contract and the guts begins pumping more durable which raises blood strain,” he defined.

The extra scientific time period for this phenomenon is venous stasis—this situation happens when the veins have bother shifting blood again to the guts, straining the cardiovascular system, Mustali Dohadwala, MD, a heart specialist in personal apply at Heartsafe Boston, instructed Well being.

Work-related standing may be particularly dangerous if staff aren’t in a position to take breaks every time they really feel it obligatory, he added.

However the research’s findings aren’t essentially an excuse to decide on lounging over your regular train routine.

“I might take conclusions with a grain of salt,” Basel Ramlawi, MD, chief of cardiothoracic surgical procedure and co-director of the Lankenau Coronary heart Institute at Fundamental Line Well being, instructed Well being. “The medical literature incorporates substantial proof supporting standing and lively jobs over sitting [or] sedentary conduct.” 

For instance, analysis printed in 2019 concluded that spending much less time seated and extra time doing bodily actions may enhance blood strain. A 2020 systemic evaluate of current analysis discovered that changing sitting with standing can lead to very small however statistically vital decreases in blood glucose ranges and physique fats. Nevertheless, it had no vital impact on lipid ranges, blood strain, weight, and waist circumference.

Extra analysis is required to find out whether or not being in your toes or sitting at a desk is best to your well being total. However consultants agree that incorporating each motion and sitting breaks into your workday are essential for everybody.

“The important thing for all staff—whether or not in workplace settings or bodily demanding jobs—is moderation, combining durations of standing, motion, and relaxation when wanted,” Ramlawi defined.

For sedentary works, Dohadwala mentioned they will they increase their well being by:

• Getting not less than 200 minutes of reasonably intense bodily exercise every week
• Attending or conducting conferences whereas strolling, if potential
• Taking common breaks to maneuver your legs
• Sporting leg compression socks to scale back the danger of blood pooling or vein points

And for these individuals who work on their toes, Norha confused that they need to restrict time spent standing if potential to take care of a wholesome blood strain.

“Taking strolling or sitting breaks from stationary standing may very well be useful,” he defined.

Even for individuals who spend their day strolling round or in any other case have a extra lively job, they nonetheless must take part in reasonably intense bodily exercise on a constant foundation to take care of their well being, Dohadwala added. This will help “mitigate irregular elevations in blood strain and the untoward downstream hostile results and problems of uncontrolled systemic hypertension,” he mentioned.

It’s additionally necessary to take all correct security precautions when you have a bodily demanding job.

“For these in development or related fields requiring heavy lifting, correct again help and protected lifting methods are important to forestall backbone and joint injury,” Ramlawi mentioned.