One of the most common thoughts about the American life is how much time citizens spend working. The majority of jobs, where people have to attend an average of 8 hours a day, demands the worker to be seated. But after that period, a high number of adults take the bus to be seated – again – in their couches. This new study performed by European scientists, and released Wednesday, assured that spending at least 6 hours a day could help us a lot, even to lose weight.
The paper published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology suggested that if people spent their days standing mostly than seated, they would get yearly results that would amaze them. As the scientists said, people would lose around 5 pounds a year if they stood on their feet for just 6 hours a day. These are two hours fewer than the average period that people have to work to earn their living.
Several previous studies have marked the American human as one of the most sedentary livings on Earth, at this precise moment. Likewise, other research has proved that there is an impressive, high number of citizens in the US that suffer from weight problems – such as diabetes and obesity.
Just think about what would be if the people in the country decided to spend their work-time standing, instead of only seated in a possibly-uncomfortable chair in front of a computer or a counting machine. According to the scientists, these 6 hours would help them burn about 54 calories per day or 0.15 calories per hour, and to progressively lose the rounded body-shape some of them hate.
We are not telling you that they would also be needing to change their daily diets for something healthier, not even to exercise weekly, not even to run or walk. To lose that exact amount of calories, and reach the 5 pounds a year, they would only need to stand on the feet. Of course: if they decided to do those things, the loss-weight would successfully improve.
Only changing the position
Experts from the Mayo Clinic talked about this new study and suggested that it could potentially help the American people to develop new manners to control weight.
This was not hard to discover, as they said. The scientists needed only to make simple calculations of thermogenesis to get the results already commented. But furthermore, they also used logic: upright humans are indeed more active than seated humans.
The researchers analyzed 46 studies, and data from 1,184 participants – 60 percent men, and the rest women. They were aged 33 years old on average and weighed around 143 pounds.
“Standing for long periods of time for many adults may seem unmanageable, especially those who have desk jobs, but, for the person who sits for 12 hours a day, cutting sitting time to half would give great benefits,” said senior author and chair of preventive cardiology at Mayo Clinic, Francisco Lopez-Jimenez. “Standing burns more calories than sitting. That has some implications for long-term weight control, and it has some potential too to be used in weight-control strategies.”
Humans standing on their feet use more body muscles than others only seated. As the experts said, these muscles make them recruit more energy. Thus, also making the body use the reserve of calories.
Lossing weight differently
Not every person uses the same amount of energy and loses the same number of pounds while being upright. The study found that this depends on the gender, the size and height of the body, and degree of muscle tone.
On the same line, noting the difference of lost calories between the men and women who participated in the study, the researchers saw that it was as much as expected.
On average, female participants showed a difference of energy of about 0.1 calories per minutes. But male participants, on the other hand, showed way more. According to the experts, they used 0.19 calories every minute while being stood.
Sitting for long periods is quite dangerous. The Mayo Clinic cardiologist advised to avoid “sitting for hours at a time,” and that the first perfect step would be “standing” instead. The important thing would be to end the “mindset of sitting interminably without moving.”
“The additional muscle activity [of standing] is linked to lower rates of heart attacks, strokes and diabetes, so the benefits of standing could go beyond weight control,” the Mayo Clinic cardiologist says in a statement. “Standing for long periods of time for many adults may seem unmanageable, especially those who have desk jobs, but, for the person who sits for 12 hours a day, cutting sitting time to half would give great benefits.”