A senior editor here at Marketplace who shall remain nameless makes it a habit of standing in front of his computer as he types away, rather than sitting down.

Turns out, he’s doing a world of good. According to an article by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, sitting poses a health risk.

They report, “when you sit, the muscles are relaxed, and enzyme activity drops by 90% to 95%, leaving fat to camp out in the bloodstream. Within a couple hours of sitting, healthy cholesterol plummets by 20%.”

And office chairs, even the most expensive kind, can’t do much to help. In fact, they make problems worse by forcing your spine’s natural S-shape into a C-shape.

According to the story, the best alternative, if you have to sit, is to perch — “a half-standing position at barstool height that keeps weight on the legs and leaves the S-curve intact.”

For example…Swopper, and HAG Capisco chairs…