Weight loss: Standing instead of sitting for six hours could help you shed pounds

The 'couch potato' lifestyle has been blamed for contributing in recent years to the obesity epidemic, as well as increases in cases of heart disease and diabetes.

Study senior Dr Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, chair of preventive cardiology at Mayo Clinic in the United States, said that studies show that, in the U.S., adults sit more than seven hours a day while the figure ranges from 3.2 to 6.8 hours a day in Europe.

The new research, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, examined whether standing burns more calories than sitting in adults. 

The researchers analysed 46 previous studies involving 1,184 participants with an average age of 33; 60 per cent were men; and the average weight was 143.3 pounds.  

Study first author Doctor Farzane Saeidifard, a cardiology fellow at Mayo Clinic, said: "Overall, our study shows that, when you put all the available scientific evidence together, standing accounts for more calories burned than sitting,"

The researchers found...

Source: Weight loss: Standing instead of sitting for six hours could help you shed pounds