Australian Study of Standing Fatigue





More than half of Australians get tired of standing up for less than one hour, according to new research by Matshop.

A survey of 788 Australian men and women aged 18 and over revealed 52.2% got tired of standing up for “about one hour” or less at home or work. Of these respondents, about half were tired after 30 minutes or less.

Just one quarter (24.5%) could last for more than four hours before feeling fatigued and 23.2% could stand for “about two hours”.

Occupational Therapy Australia National Manager for Professional Practice and Development Anita Volkert was not that surprised by the findings.

" It’s not necessarily surprising, as the international literature in the area shows us that while interspersing sitting with regular standing at a traditional computer based sedentary workstation, or a school desk, or while on the couch watching TV, may have beneficial effects (Torbeyns et al, 2014), static standing (standing in one position for a long time) can also have some negative effects, causing discomfort, fatigue and overall strain (Halim & Omar, 2015)," she said.

"So, we do know that standing causes fatigue, and that prolonged standing can actually be detrimental to health (Messing et al, 2005)."

Generation X can stand up for the longest