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The desk is the classic icon of many jobs. Your temporary home for the duration of the work day, have you ever really thought about the style of your desk? Most of us do not even know what we may be missing out on because we never thought outside the box when it comes to the best form of a desk.
After all, it seems difficult to improve upon a workstation consisting of a chair and writing/work surface. Well, up until now, there has been no reason to change the basic design of the desk. But, there have been quite a few studies which have lauded the benefits of a particular type of desk.
Standing desks are a product which has recently emerged on the market. Up until a short time before now, all desks were designed as sitting desks because it is quite simply more comfortable. You may be wondering whether standing desks feature any practical advantages or if they are simply a fad.
Today we will be looking at the benefits of doing your work while you are standing compared to when you are sitting. What we found out may surprise you, as there is a substantial number of benefits to working standing up, both psychologically and physically. Bear with us as we examine the advantages of working while you stand.
Contents
1. Improved Morale & Work Ethic
There have been studies that have managed to prove that standing desks improve your energy and your work ethic by a measurable amount. You may be thinking that it must be a minimal improvement. After all, how much can the lack of a chair change your work ethic? Well, you would be surprised. We know we were.
It has been proven that employees at standing desks reported a higher level of energy throughout the workday. In fact, during the study, nearly 90% of the users of standing desks reported this. When you think about it, a standing desk improving productivity does make a certain kind of sense.
When you are standing up, you are both literally and figuratively on the balls of your feet, so you are ready to work and improve your productivity.
This is opposed to being seated on a chair where you can doze off and relax when you feel like you are overloaded with work. A standing desk instead pushes you into your work headlong, drastically improving your morale and productivity.
Think about all of the other areas of your life where you stand while working. When you’re working with your tools and saws in the garage, you stand. When you cook in the kitchen, you’re standing. Productivity and energy levels improve through standing.
2. ?Improved Health Benefits
The real advantages to doing work while you stand are regarding the health benefits that you reap while you are working. It has been proven time and time again that sitting down for long periods of time is one of the most unhealthy things you can do. When you work standing up, you dramatically improve your health.
Think of all the time you spend at work and think of how much of that time is spent sitting down. Now multiply that by however many years you have been working and will be working. You certainly do not want to be sitting down for such a large chunk of your life if it contributes to poor health and an unhealthy lifestyle.
Heart Disease
The primary health risk from sitting down too much is your increased risk of heart disease. Heart disease is the number one killer in the USA, meaning that a reduced chance of heart disease greatly increases your projected lifespan. This is only the first of many health benefits you reap from working standing up.
Diabetes
The next risk of sitting down too often is an increased chance of diabetes. Diabetes is a disease which is manageable, but can sometimes turn out fatal if it is severe. Working while standing up is a way to decrease your chances of diabetes, as your body will be working to process the carbs in your bloodstream.
What this essentially means is that you will have lower blood sugar levels while working standing up than you would have if you were working while sitting down. This is due to your body working moderately harder to keep you standing, than it would work while you were sitting down.
Obesity
Another risk which results from sitting down too often is an increased chance of obesity. About half of the population of America is obese or nearing obesity, and that number keeps rising. Obesity significantly increases your chances of premature death and other conditions such as heart disease.
Due to the amount of calories which are burned by using a standing desk daily, you will find that you are at far less of a risk when it comes to obesity when you work at a standing desk. A standing desk can be a good step towards a healthier lifestyle as sitting down all day is certainly not conducive to good health.
3. Improved Calorie Burn
It has been proven that sitting down does not burn a significant amount of calories other than the energy which is used to maintain our metabolism and keep our bodies running.
Standing, on the other hand, tends to greatly improve the number of calories you burn because your muscles and heart need to work to keep you standing up, as your body weight is on your feet.
Increased calorie burn decreases the amount of weight you gain and greatly reduces your risk of becoming obese. When coupled with a daily workout, you will find that a standing desk is an excellent way to improve the health of your body and tighten up your waist at the same time.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a large variety of reasons why you may wish to work standing up as opposed to sitting down. Most of the benefits are health related and can help you improve your life expectancy. We spend enough of our lives at work. Would you rather spend that time at work sitting down or spend that time improving your health as you work?
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