Sitting for too long is extremely detrimental to one’s health. Research has shown that the impact of sitting all day for years can cause a multitude of health problems like obesity, diabetes, and even cancer. The average office worker spends about five hours and forty-one minutes sitting each day at their desk. To prevent some of these health issues, the concept of standing desks have recently become more popular. A standing desk is one where you can stand up comfortable while working. There are many different versions available that are even adjustable, meaning you can change the height of the desk and alternate between standing and sitting. Using these kinds of desks can help to mitigate the harmful effects of prolonged sitting. Here are some of the benefits of using a standing desk.
Lowers Risk of Weight Gain and Obesity
As we all know, weight gain is the result of taking in more calories than you burn. Weight loss is when you burn more calories than you take in. Now, exercise is one of the most effective ways to burn more calories, but by choosing to stand rather than sit can also help. In fact, research has shown that when compared to an afternoon of sedentary work, spending the equal amount of time standing can burn over 170 additional calories. That amounts to approximately 1000 extra calories burnt each week by standing at your desk in the afternoon.
Researchers have pointed to a lack of physical activity as some of the biggest links to breast and colon cancer. In 2011, a study showed that 43,000 cases of colon cancer along with 49,000 cases of breast cancer annually are due to prolonged sitting. This same study reported that there was also a strong connection between prolonged sitting and ovarian, prostate, lung, and endometrial cancer. While there is no concrete answer as to why sitting can cause these types of cancer, but experts believe it might be due to the increases in C-reactive protein which are found in people who sit for a long period of time.
One of most common concerns surrounding standing desks is that they can negatively affect daily tasks like typing. However, they do not appear to make such an impact. A study that included sixty young employees using a standing desk for four hours each day reported that the use of the standing desk made no real impact on the characters typed per minute or on typing errors. Standing desks can help improve your mood and energy, so it is possible that it can boost your productivity more than it would hinder it.
Using a standing desk may take some time to get used to, but they are beneficial to your health. If you do plan to make the transition to working with a standing desk, take it slow in the beginning. You don’t want to go from sitting for six hours a day to standing for six hours the next day. Try standing for a short amount of time and then as you get used to the set-up, you can add on more time.