Standing up while working has become a trend in recent years. After making the headlines of the American press from 2010, more and more companies begin to provide their employees with height-adjustable desks.
But Why Should We Work Standing Up and What Are the Health Benefits of This Position?
What is the problem? With the mechanization and automation of work in many industries, more people have begun to work sitting.
Sitting down at work seems at first like a good idea because workers get less tired physically.
However, as noted by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, many health problems have been identified and attributed directly to the fact of sitting for too long:
- Varicose veins in the legs;
- Stiffness in the neck;
- Numbness;
- etc.
Know more about standing desks
Studies have even shown that workers faced these problems more often if they sat for a long time.
Sitting greatly decreases body movement (especially in the lower part of the body). This creates blood circulation problems and a gradual loss of muscle mass. It is then necessary to compensate
our physical inactivity by practicing many sports outside of work.
We are therefore wasting valuable time that we could spend with our family, children, friends, etc.
Why working standing up instead of sitting down?
This idea may seem bizarre, but more and more people work in a standing position. This is actually something that has been done for years in many countries of Northern Europe.
As we have just seen, numerous studies have highlighted the health problems of our modern society. The conclusion: we are too sedentary and we dont move enough.
Thus, unlike at the beginning of the 20th century, we are now working more and more by sitting in front of a desk and a computer. This makes our body lose muscle gradually. It is therefore not uncommon to see people starting to suffer from back pain, for instance, after several years of sitting down at work.
This is the reason why sitting at work begins increasingly to be criticized by doctors and researchers.
A solution that was found was to simply get back to working in a standing position.
By spending less time sitting, the human body uses more often the leg and back muscles as well as the abdominal muscles.
The body is then reinforced and the pain gradually disappears.
The benefits of standing up
There are many advantages to working in a standing position. Here are a few:
- The disappearance of back problems: the muscles of the body are toned up and able to keep our back in place more easily;
- Weight loss: standing allows to burn more calories which promotes gradual weight loss;
- An increase in productivity: being seated makes us feel tired but standing stimulates the body and forces us to stay alert and active.
But the hardest is still to start working in a standing or sitting/standing position.
Sit/stand desks as a solution
The professional environment and the equipment we use play a major role in our health in the workplace.
Consequently, it is necessary to use a height-adjustable work table to make the most of the sit/stand position.
At any time, it is possible to increase the height of the table to work standing up (or to lower it to work seated).
It is therefore possible to alternate between work in a sitting or standing position. For example, one can start the beginning of the day sitting, then standing after lunch break.
Often, users begin by working in a standing position for 1 or 2 hours per day and spend the rest of the time sitting down. As the days progress, they sit less and less!
Therefore, you must plan ahead and buy height-adjustable furniture that is both effective and aesthetic in order to stay healthy and work better.
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