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Sitting all day is seriously bad for your health. Studies show that people who sit a lot are at risk of heart diseases, diabetes, and even early death.
But what if your job requires you to be at your desk for most of the day?
Try a standing desk!
Standing Desk: What Is It?
Also called a stand-up desk, a standing desk is essentially a desk that can be adjusted so you can comfortably stand up while working.
This is a wonderful solution where you can stand at work rather than just sitting for most of it. Although it may initially seem like a lot of effort, you’ll find that standing desks offer several benefits that are super worth it for your overall well-being.
It comes in several designs like a dual or single standing desk. So, make sure to understand the differences between single and dual motor standing desk before you buy.
Modern versions are also adjustable, allowing you to change the height of your desk and alternating between standing and sitting. These are called sit-stand or height-adjustable desks.
While research about the benefits of standing desks is still in its early stage, it appears that using it can have good health benefits. At the very least, this kind of desk can partially negate the detrimental effects of sitting for extended periods.
Why Use a Standing Desk?
- Reduces Back Pain
What’s the most common complaint of office workers who sit all day long? An aching back.
The body is designed to stand and move throughout the day. Sitting for extended periods puts a strain on your muscle and joints which can cause herniated disks, chronic pain, and pinched nerves.
Back pain is reportedly the number one job-related disability, costing about $85 billion annually in health care, productivity, and lost income.
Standing can help in improving posture and putting the spine into a more naturally aligned position. In fact, a study shows that 32% of participants had an improvement in their aching lower back after using stand desks for a few weeks. In addition, one study shows that using sit-stand desks reduced neck and upper backaches by 54% in just 4 weeks.
- Lose Weight
Losing weight requires burning more calories than what you’re taking in. By taking more calories than what you’re burning, you’ll gain weight. And in the case of sitting at your desk all day, you’re not really burning many calories despite your muscles being stiff or sore after a while.
Meanwhile, studies show that even things like standing can actually burn calories. Standing is said to burn over 170 extra calories. This means that you can burn an extra 1,000 calories just by using a standing desk every afternoon when working.
- Enhancing Brain Power
Good circulation is crucial for good health. And sitting isn’t great for your blood circulation. In fact, within just 10 minutes of sitting, your blood circulation slows down and increasing the risk of blood clotting.
Standing can help in improving blood circulation. This, in turn, can help deliver more nutrients and oxygen to the brain. It can facilitate the creation of new brain cells, increasing brain power.
While most people think that standing desk can hinder their daily tasks like typing, it does have a significant impact on how you handle your daily tasks. Studies revealed that standing at work can help increase productivity, performance, and concentration.
- Lower the Risk of Heart Disease
Sitting all day means less movement. And less movement means that you’re more at risk of heart disease.
Sitting is the new smoking. Evidence shows that too much sitting can have a profound effect on your heart health. As mentioned before, sitting for a prolonged period can cause your blood circulation to slow down. This allows fatty acids to build up in your vessels and ultimately leads to heart diseases.
In fact, it’s so harmful that even an hour of intense workout won’t make up for the negative impact of sitting for the entire day.
Conclusion
We understand that most of our job requires us to be sitting all day long. However, reducing this sedentary lifestyle can help in reducing the annoying back pain and other range of scary diseases such as chronic pain, diabetes, and heart disease while improving your productivity.
Therefore, we humans, constantly innovate and come up with beneficial solutions like a standing desk that can help us change our detrimental lifestyles such as preventing scary disease like the abovementioned. There are things that help us ensure a good overall health and wellbeing.