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This sit-stand combination might help you avoid health issues brought on by too much of both
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A Cornell University ergonomics professor says he's found the perfect combination of sitting, standing and walking during a workday, according to Newser. - photo by Payton Davis
Whether sitting too much or standing too much in the office, workers are likely to suffer health issues unless discovering the perfect combination of both.

According to The Huffington Post, sitting too much is linked to cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer and premature death.

And standing a great deal might seem like the best of the two, but a Daily Mail report indicated people who stay on their feet too much "could suffer painful back problems or permanent muscle damage."

So what's a health-conscious professional to do?

Trying a sit-stand formula created by Alan Hedge, a Cornell University ergonomics professor, might be a good start, according to Newser. Hedge's formula is based on 30-minute sets where people sit for 20 minutes, stand for eight and "move around and stretch" for two.

"The key is breaking up your activity throughout the day," Hedge said, according to Medical Daily. "Sitting all day and standing all day are both bad for you."

According to Medical Daily, Hedge and John Buckley, University of Chester professor of applied exercise science, worked on a report that detailed how employers could "boost physical activity and decrease sitting time among their employees."

For employees who work at desks, gradual improvement is key: They should work toward standing and light walking two hours a day, Medical Daily indicated.

"To achieve this, seat-based work should be regularly broken up with standing-based work, the use of sit-stand desks, or the taking of short active standing breaks," Hedge and Buckley wrote. "[C]ompanies should also promote among their staff that prolonged sitting, aggregated from work and in liesure time, may significantly and independently increase the risk of cardiometabolic diseases."

According to WTOP, even small strides made to combat the negative effects of sitting can reap benefits.

WTOP cited a study published in the journal Experimental Physiology that stated sitting for six hours reduces the vascular function in one of the leg's main arteries by more than 50 percent. However, a 10-minute walk restored the function, according to the study.

As of now, research in regards to sitting and its effect on vascular functions gives researchers an overview of short-term issues but more data is needed to verify anything beyond that, Jaume Padilla, University of Missouri nutrition and exercise assistant professor, told The Huffington Post.

"While we were able to show that a short bout of walking can improve vascular health after sitting for roughly the equivalent of a typical workday, more research is needed to find out if repeated periods of reduced vascular function caused by sitting leads to long-term not just short-term vascular complications," Padilla said.
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