Giving standing desks to 20 per cent of office workers would save $84 million in healthcare costs and 7,492 health-adjusted life years by preventing obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to the first evaluation in Australia.

Researchers have analysed the results of a trial of standing desks involving 231 office workers in Victoria, run by VicHealth and the National Health and Medical Research Council, and led by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.

They found the trial, which also involved organisational support and health coaching, led to the workers sitting by one hour less on average per day.

Further, the original study the economic evaluation was based on found those with standing desks had lower blood glucose level and risk of metabolic syndrome than their peers without standing desks.

Lan Gao, Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Deakin University, said the savings gleaned from standing up at work would offset the estimated $185 million cost of such an intervention.

"Up until now a barrier to their widespread introduction has been the perceived prohibitive cost," Dr Gao said.

"So far there has not been any published evidence of the cost-effectiveness of such workstations, particularly when coupled with the associated education and support that is needed to help ensure their uptake and sustained use.

"So ours is the first Australian study to show these interventions are good value for money."

It's not just about the desk

Almost two-thirds of Australian adults are considered obese or overweight.

"In today's society, what we're looking for is the prevention of any further development of conditions like diabetes," said research co-author Professor David Dunstan, from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.

"If you can shift people's time spent sitting in total across the day, that can lower the risk of complications like heart disease and diabetes in the longer term," he said.

Professor Dunstan said it was not just about providing height-adjustable workstations.

"This is just one aspect of a number of considerations in tackling the obesity situation," he said.

"[It's also] the associated support, so to support individuals and organisations to facilitate changes in the workplace to be more conducive to less sitting, more standing, more movement throughout the day.

"A key message from this study is that it's not only about, 'Here's your desk, go for it'. It's about providing the workstations and then coaching people on how to achieve a feasible approach to changing their sitting and standing throughout the day."

He said with 40 per cent of Australian workers employed in an office, there needed to be more emphasis on designing healthy workplaces.

Professor Dunstan suggested more attention be paid to how the physical environment could influence behaviour on a daily basis, and designing workplaces that encouraged interaction with others so that people were moving around more frequently.

"If an office workplace provides an environment which is conducive to high amounts of sitting, no movement throughout the day, it doesn't put it into a favourable situation."

No looking back for standing desk convert

Alexandra Post is now a standing desk convert after using one for nine months.

Fed up with a sore lower back and unable to configure her desk ergonomics to suit her, the Melbourne IT recruiter decided to take a stand.

"A couple of other people in the office had decided to get standing desks and they had seen improvements with their performance and overall posture as well so that's kind of the reason that I decided to take the leap," she said.

"I definitely notice an improvement with my overall focus and health and wellbeing.

"I know that sounds really broad, but when you have the opportunity to stand and get that blood flowing, if you can't go to the gym, I feel a lot more alert the next day and also throughout the day.

Alexandra Post has been using a standing desk for nine months. ( Supplied )

"It is just taking control of your health and wellbeing in any tiny way that we can.

"You spend half your life at work, if not more, so to be able to have those changes to make yourself a bit more productive and active I guess in your day-to-day life when the majority of us are in sitting jobs — it seems like a no-brainer to me."