Standing Desk Benefits That Help You Live Longer
Standing desks, also known as sit stand desks, have been used for a long time in many professions due to their utility and convenience. Recently they’ve gained massive popularity due to their health benefits that offset sitting and staring at a computer screen for long periods.
The concept of the standing desk within is to reduce the amount of time you’re sedentary at the office. The majority of them are height-adjustable so you can alternate between sitting and standing and finding the optimal balance between the two.
Bundle of Health Benefits
The benefits of a standing desk include everything from weight loss, lower blood sugar levels, improved posture, reduced lower back and upper back and neck pain, as well as an increased life expectancy.
A growing number of studies have linked being excessively sedentary to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, weight gain, and shortened life expectancy. Standing for even half of your workday may improve your physical health and minimize potential issues related to being sedentary.
How Many Hours A Day Should I Be Standing?
Some research suggests that you should spend 15 minutes every hour standing, whilst some pushes this to 30 minutes at a time standing per hour to gain the maximum benefit.
This is based on various health risk and ergonomic calculations that the ideal ratio of sitting to standing is within the range of 1:1 to 1:3. Prolonged sitting with little movement is particularly common for office workers who will often try to standing instead for as long as possible when they make the jump to a standing desk.
This abrupt change can often lead to lower back pain, even when the participant didn’t previously have any history of back pain. They key to switching over to a sit stand desk is to gradually work up to standing between 30 minutes to 45 minutes per hour.
Standing Lowers Your Risk of Weight Gain and Obesity
Calories Burnt When Sitting and Standing
The amount of calories an hour burned when sitting is in the range of 60 to 130. The difference in range is due to factors like sex, age, weight and height.
In contrast, standing at your desk will burn between 100 to 200 calories per hour. Whilst the difference may appear minimal – 40 to 70 calories per hour – it does add up!
For an average office worker standing all day, they would clock up 320 to 560 calories a day burned by doing nothing other than changing their working habits.
By comparison, an average person burns around 232 calories per hour when walking at a moderate pace. So you get the same energy expenditure as a 2 hour walk just by standing at your desk.
Links to Obesity and Weight Gain
Calories burned is one of the biggest weapons against weight gain and obesity. The ability to offset the amount of calories consumed simply by standing and burning means that any additional exercise will provide bonus benefits to tackle weight gain.
Using a Standing Desk May Lower Blood Sugar Levels
The more your blood sugar levels increase after meals, the worse it is for your health. This is especially true for people with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. Studies show that standing for 180 minutes after lunch reduces blood sugar spikes by 43%.
Increased Diabetes Risk
Excessive sedentary time is linked to a 112% greater risk of type 2 Diabetes, which is 112% more at risk than at least a year after a meal. The harmful effects of sitting after meals could help explain why excessive sedentary work can be beneficial to the health of people with diabetes.
In a small study of 10 office workers, standing was found to reduce the blood sugar spike by 11.1% on average. The reduced blood sugar spike was linked to standing as opposed to a normal desk. Standing also reduces the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Standing May Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease
Longtime sitting is thought to increase the risk of heart disease by 147%. An hour of intense exercise may not make up for the negative effects of an entire day spent sitting.
There is no doubt that spending more time on your feet is beneficial for heart health. It is widely accepted that the more time you spend sitting, the greater your risk of developing a heart disease.
Even intense exercise is not enough to offset the effects of sitting in a sedentary environment that leads to heart disease-related death rates up to 70%.
Sit Stand Desks May Reduce Back and Neck Pain
Standing desks have been shown to improve musculoskeletal pain. This is because standing lowers spinal compression compared to sitting, and generally encourages better posture that sitting all day.
This allows your back to stay relaxed while working, which is key in reducing back pain.
The neck is an extension of your back and is often a source of problems. These can be anything from a twinge of pain in your neck right up to bad headaches and the need to take constant breaks.
If you find yourself experiencing such issues when sitting, consider first seeking medical advice to see if a standing desk will help with your symptoms.
Standing Desks Helps Mental Health and Energy Levels
One lesser known but major benefit of standing desks are their effect on a persons mental health and overall well-being.
Studies concluded that the benefits of using a standing desk reported less stress and fatigue instead of sitting all day.
It doesn’t stop there! Of those people who reported positive benefits – around 87% went on to report an overall boost of energy and alertness throughout the day.
Standing Desks Improves Productivity
Standing Improves Blood Flow
Blood flow is an important part of overall health as it helps lower blood pressure, reduce the likelihood of blood clots, as well as maintain the elasticity of the vascular system.
It’s been proven that the vascular system becomes impaired after just six hours of sitting, with further degradation occurring each subsequent hour.
Studies have also shown that sitting restricts blood flow to the legs, which makes standing particularly beneficial to people who sit all day. The process of standing and walking help to squeeze the valves i n the leg veins that help push blood back up toward the heart.
Too much of a good thing can be harmful though, and spending the entire day standing can lead to blood pooling in your feet, varicose veins and certain types of heart disease. So please include some sitting time too.
Standing Desks Allow Spontaneous Exercise
One often over looked factor in the health benefits of standing desks is the ability to do other opportunistic exercises.
When you’re standing, you’re already in the position to start a squat, drop and do some pushups, do some stretches or even some star jumps.
Make It Part Of Your Daily Workout
Some people factor this into their workout routine and aim to do 6-7 pushups every 30 minutes to reach a total pushup goal of 100 per day.
These opportunities for spontaneous exercise are diminished when seated and generally do not occur.
Summary
Standing desks offer a huge range of benefits from weight loss, reduced blood pressure, improved back and neck pain, improved mood and alertness, better productivity and increased life expectancy. This is particularly key for sedentary workers who spend a large amount of time with limited movement seated in front of a computer.
By standing for one to three quarters of your day, you burn more calories in a way that can’t be replaced with exercising after sitting throughout the entire day.