In addition to regular exercise and a healthy diet, there is one simple activity that has been reported to make a diet program successful and that is staying upright. Standing is believed to burn quite a few calories, so it’s effective for weight loss.
Standing has many health benefits. But is it true that standing up burns so many calories that you lose weight drastically?
Health benefits of standing
Standing is an easy and simple physical activity, but don’t underestimate its benefits. Here are several benefits you can get from standing.
1. Lowers the risk of obesity
While exercise remains the most effective way to prevent obesity, standing is also beneficial in reducing risk. That’s because you burn more calories standing than you do sitting all day.
According to a small British study from 2014, standing burns at least 170 kcal more calories than sitting. Multiply that by a week and you burn another 1,000 calories.
2. Maintaining blood sugar stability
Still in the same study, standing for 180 minutes after lunch lowered blood sugar by 43% more than sitting for the same duration. These benefits are achieved even without adding other physical activities like walking.
Meanwhile, sitting too much increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. This habit can increase the risk of insulin resistance, which is a condition in which the body’s cells don’t respond properly to insulin, causing blood sugar to become high.
3. Improve posture and reduce pain
Forget about burning calories for a moment, standing is just as important for your posture. When you stand, you strengthen your back muscles, lower back muscles, and other important muscles that keep your body straight.
On the other hand, sitting for too long makes the spine stiffer. This habit also tightens the muscles in your chest, shoulders, and neck, making them easily sore.
4. Lowers the risk of heart disease
Heart disease is called the silent killer because it can lead to sudden death. Preventing heart disease isn’t easy, but you can reduce the risk as easy as getting up.
Like cardio, standing helps burn calories and lower blood sugar, cholesterol, and obesity. They are all important factors in maintaining a healthy heart and blood vessels.
5. Improve mood and productivity
Standing not only burns calories but also boosts morale and productivity.
A study in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease shows that people who work while standing to experience less stress than people who often sit. They also get less tired from work, although they get up often. As study participants’ moods and energy increased, so did their productivity.
6. Let you live long
Thanks to its benefits in lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, standing has the potential to make you live longer. This has even been noted in various studies, one of which was published in the journal Diabetologia in 2012.
The study estimates that reducing sedentary time to three hours a day could increase Americans’ life expectancy by two years. Of course, you can use the three hours of sitting time while standing.
How can standing burn calories?
A study by Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez and his team tested calorie consumption while sitting and standing.
This research was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in 2018. dr Lopez-Jimenez and his team conducted research by processing data from 46 previous studies. They studied a total of 1,184 people, with an average age of 33 and an average weight of 65 kg, to see how many calories were burned standing.
The results of the study said that standing for one minute can help burn 0.15 times more calories than sitting. So if a person weighing 65 kg stands for 6 hours a day, the calories they burn add up to 54 kcal. Converted to body weight, that extra 54 kcal per day burn can burn 2.5 kg of fat mass in a year.
Standing may not burn many calories, but these insights are still very helpful. When you stand, you use more of your muscles to keep your body upright. So it makes sense that the body would need more energy to do this. Your body needs to burn calories to get enough energy to stay strong.
Standing is also classified as non-exercise or NEAT thermogenic activity. Activities that help burn calories, such as B. when you are restless, give signals, and tremble in cold weather are also CORRECT.
Is it true that standing can decrease?
According to dr Lopez-Jimenez, Standing can help people who sit a full 12 hours a day and are at risk of becoming overweight. For that Dr. Lopez-Jimenez suggests reducing sitting time by up to 50% of normal time. Standing can be a solution for workers who lead a sedentary lifestyle, aka sedentary, and rarely exercise. While it doesn’t burn many calories, standing does help prevent weight gain in the long run.
Those of you who are trying to lose weight still can’t fully rely on standing to increase calorie burn. You still need to exercise at the right times, adjust your diet and eat healthily. Make standing a habit that supports your health. If you used to sit all day, try to get up more often now. For example, get up when you are on the train, cooking or preparing meals for the family.