Standing Desks & Treadmill Desks

[Editor’s Note: We’re leaving this page from 2013 in place for posterity but please click over to a much more updated article that includes the most recent studies from major medical research institutions on How Many Calories Can You Really Expect to Burn Using a Standing Desk or Treadmill Desk? While the information below is still completely accurate it is also redundant with the information on the new page, which also includes much more detailed results from extensive testing of standing desk and treadmill desk users connected to ultra-precise ergospyrometry equipment.]

Sitting disease, in a nutshell, is a wind-down of the body’s metabolism that occurs when we [...]

Sitting disease, in a nutshell, is a wind-down of the body’s metabolism that occurs when we sit for too long at one time. The most direct effect is a lowering of the body’s Basal Metabolic Rate – or BMR. Think of it as your heart rate when you’re just sitting still. We burn a few calories just keeping the vital organs working, digesting our last meal, pumping blood through the veins, exercising the brain cells, etc. Merely standing raises the body’s BMR significantly, as the heart has to work harder to keep the body erect. Walking at a slow pace of 1 to 2 mph raises the BMR further still, and with it our background calorie burn. The Mayo Clinic’s Dr. James Levine – the “father of the [...]