Study will keep kids on their toes

To sit, or stand?

That's the question that faculty of Texas A&M's Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health will be trying to answer in a two-year study on the use of "stand-biased" desks in local classrooms.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has awarded more than $402,800 for the research, which will determine if standing more improves a student's health and academic performance.

With childhood obesity a growing epidemic, the act of standing at their desks offers students a way to increase their physical activity without disrupting planned instruction, said Mark Benden, an assistant professor and principal investigator on the study.

The students being studied will have the option of choosing how long they sit or stand during a day, he said.

"The kids are burning nervous energy in a way that's not distracting to their peers," Benden said about standing desks.

Benden noted that people can burn 25 percent more calories standing than sitting. They also are more alert and are able to stay on task better while standing, he said.

"As more schools implement dynamic classrooms, the paradigm of seated instruction can potentially shift to one that is more conducive to alertness and attentiveness while increasing passive calorie burn at the same time," said Benden, who is working alongside Monica Wendel, Hongwei Zhao and Jamilia Blake.

The Dynamic Classrooms Project conducted a pilot study as part of the application process for the grant, he said. The project evaluated students at College Hills Elementary in College Station and documented as much data as possible, including information about posture and heart rate, he said.

After the pilot study ended, Benden said, several of the teachers asked to keep the standing desks.

"That was a big sign to us that they were a real benefit to them," he said of the stand-biased desks.

The grant funds will allow the team to go into several Brazos Valley schools and grade levels to broaden the data results of the research.

The team discovered it's more natural for children to be up and active, he said.

"As we get older, we get conditioned to sitting," he said.

Over the past 10,000 years, it was typical for a person to stand 14 out of 16 waking hours a day, he said. However, in the past 150 to 200 years, a change has almost come full circle, he said. An adult will now sit almost 12 to 15 hours a day, he said.

Sitting for such long lengths of time affects the body's cells and ability to resist disease, he said, adding it's an easy way for obesity to start creeping into a person's life.

"As you gain weight it's harder and harder to lose weight because everything's working against you. Your body is literally working against you," he said.

This study will take advantage of a child's natural desire to be upright, wiggling and hovering around a desk, he said.

"I really think at some point we're going to see more and more schools embrace this," he said.