Are you standing wrong?

Probably!

A recent study of workers in Taiwan found those who sat most of the time had a 16% higher risk of mortality and a 34% greater risk of heart disease.

Rex Huppke here. I wanted to learn more about standing and how to do it right, so I spoke with Dr. Michael Fredericson, director of Lifestyle Medicine at 美国斯坦福大学 .

I recently learned, after all these years of living, that I have been standing wrong. How bad should I feel about this?

Well, it's widespread. It's not something people are trained to do.?

Is there a reason our posture is not inherently ideal? Shouldn’t nature have just made proper posture automatic?

We're not hunters and gatherers anymore, right?? Part of it is that we're not on our feet that much in today’s society. Many people sit most of the day, and so the muscles that help you maintain proper standing posture don't get exercised enough. We're not spending most of our day running, walking, pushing and carrying.?

I’m certainly not.

We don't naturally activate and strengthen our glute or back muscles when sitting, and these muscles are critical for healthy posture. Unfortunately, being less active is part of our evolution as a population.

It’s fascinating how we have evolved ourselves into different problems. What are issues that can arise from not standing the right way?

It can be a range of things. It might be that your feet start to ache, particularly if you have a flatter foot and you're standing without adequate arch support. Your knees may begin to hurt. Often, your back or your neck will also start to ache. But it could be almost any part of your body.

I recently started using a standing desk, mainly so I can brag about using a standing desk. What are the keys for proper body alignment while standing?

You don't want to hold any one position too long. The whole idea of a standing desk is to allow one to vary to vary position and posture. You want to go from sitting to standing periodically throughout the day.?

That sounds suspiciously like exercise.

When you’re standing, you can move around a little bit more. When you’re sitting, scientific studies confirm the pressure in your discs increases quite a bit.? And then, as you're leaning forward, which most people do when they're on a computer, the disc pressure rises even more, causing the disc to bulge over time. So eventually, your discs are going to start to lose some of their buoyancy, some of the water content that's inherent to the disc. The more you can change positions, the more that disc can rehydrate.?

Let’s nail down the proper standing position.

You want to stand upright so you’re not leaning. You want to feel your foot making good contact with the ground. You should feel the pressure more on the midfoot. You then want to have a little bend in your knees. They shouldn’t be locked out. You want your tailbone pointing down, keeping your pelvis in the correct position and not tilting too much forward.

Who knew standing was so hard. I assume there’s more?

You want your shoulders and chest relaxed. You don't want to be hiking up your shoulders or puffing out of your chest. You want your chin tucked slightly in and your head aligned with your shoulders so your neck muscles can relax. ?Think of the upper part of your body, head, torso, and legs forming one line that goes from your shoulders through your hips and then down through your ankles. In this way, you are in line with gravity and not fighting it.

It's a lot to keep track of for when you're not used to it. How do you implement all this and make it part of your lifestyle??

The most important thing is that you're not holding unnecessary tension anywhere in your body.

I’m always holding tension in my body because there’s too much of it to fit in my brain.

You need to close your eyes and go through those checkpoints gently. Are your feet supported? Is your body aligned? Are you holding any areas of tension in from your forehead, face, neck, chest, arms, spine, pelvis, legs, ankles or feet? If your posture is off, it is likely you are holding tension in the muscles.?

So how often do we need to stand perfectly for our bodies to feel good?

It’s not a rigid thing. There’s nothing wrong with occasional slouching or curling up in a beanbag or hammock. Just like there’s nothing wrong with sitting. There is a balance in life, and we don’t always need to be perfect.

Quite logical. Balance always seems to be the key. What else can people do to help with posture?

Tai chi is great because it really works on posture and how you can let go of tension in your body. The whole idea is that when there's tension, it blocks energy. This is why one of the first things you learn in a Tai chi practice is good alignment and posture, using only the amount of muscle tension necessary to achieve the form.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. Header image by DALL-E Open Ai .

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