18 / 11 / 2015
Is sitting at our desk killing us?
Numerous scientific studies have suggested that we sit too much. Many of us spend up to 12 hours sitting on our bottoms – at work, at home, in the car, in the cinema and even the gym! Add that to the average seven hours’ sleep and it adds up to almost 19 sedentary hours every day.
As human beings, we’re not designed to sit down so much. Several studies have also shown that ‘sit and stand desks’ can offer certain health benefits to office workers who often find themselves slumped over a screen for 8 hours per day.
Let’s take a look at some of the health benefits you may gain from investing in a sit and stand desk.
Health benefits of sit and stand desks
Many of the benefits of spending some time standing while working result in fewer medical issues and back problems, increased productivity and energy, and burning more calories. These are just some of the numerous benefits that have been documented scientifically and anecdotally by stand-up adopters.
Standing burns half to one calorie more a minute than sitting. In four hours, that represents as many as 240 additional calories. Sitting more than one hour at a time lowers the levels of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase, which causes calories to be sent to fat stores.
Should you sit or stand at your desk?
However, as with all things, there needs to be a balance, the key is breaking up your activity throughout the day – sitting or standing all day can be bad for you, a balance between standing & sitting is recommended. The objective should be to vary your position during your day.
There’s a growing trend in businesses around the world to adopt the use of sit and stand desks, mainly for health benefits – but also to try out something new. It’s worthwhile for employers to take note of this trend and to consider equipping their offices to respond to the changing needs of employees and working environments. The larger ones also make a great stand up meeting table – really injects energy into your power meetings!
This post was written by Re:Work, who offer the very latest versions of stand & sit desks. They come with manual or electronic control and are available in a range of finishes to match your existing furniture.
Enjoy this article? You might be interested in some of our others:
26 / 11 / 2015
10 ways Fire Rated Glass Doors are essential in a modern office
Fire doors are highly important when it comes to health and safety in any building. It's crucial to make sure that the appropriate fire safety precautions are put into place, and fire rated doors are essential.