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7 good reasons why you need a height-adjustable desk
With trends showing that we're spending more and more time sitting down, there's never been a better time to consider the benefits of a height-adjustable desk. Take a closer look and discover what it can do for the work efficiency, personal well-being and health economic profile of any company.
Research in EU countries clearly shows that we are becoming increasingly sedentary among employees. Among managers, 17% of respondents sat for more than 8 hours and 30 minutes. For other employees it is even 19%. Worryingly, this number is even higher among young people: 51% of 15-24 year olds sit for more than 5 hours and 30 minutes a day, compared to 38-41% of older people. Unfortunately, the health implications of these numbers are well known. Rising obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes may all be related to our increasingly sedentary lifestyles.
Developing a solution starts with understanding the problem. So let's take a look at the reasons why sitting still for too long can be bad for us.
- If you seem to be sitting comfortably, your abdominal muscles will relax. This can deform your back into a hunchback.
- Sitting with a hunched back primarily puts a strain on the intervertebral discs, which are also less well supplied with important nutrients.
- Sitting for long periods of time puts a strain on the internal organs, especially the digestive organs.
- The blood flow to the extremities can be reduced and muscles can become stiff or tense.
- Sitting for long periods of time causes the muscles to atrophy.
- Prolonged sitting worsens the cardiovascular system.
The solution: Spend some of your sedentary time standing with the help of a height-adjustable desk.
Height-adjustable desks are becoming increasingly popular in the office. And rightly so: Height-adjustable desks allow you to easily change your working position, from sitting to standing and back again. Investing in height-adjustable desks pays off because it can prevent avoidable back problems, increase employee performance, concentration and motivation, and minimize downtime.
7 compelling reasons why you need a height-adjustable desk
1. Avoids annoying back pain
Back pain is one of the most common complaints of office workers who sit all day.
Dietrich Grönemeyer states that today more than 80% of the population in industrialized countries complain of back pain (Prof. Dr. Dietrich Grönemeyer, Mein Rückenbuch, Verlag Zabert Sandmann, 2004).
Many studies have examined how a standing desk affects office workers with long-term back pain. The 2011 Take-a-Stand Project found that participants who spent an average of 66 minutes of their workday standing had 54% less upper back and neck pain.
In just a little over an hour a day, participants in the Take-a-Stand Project achieved dramatic results. Imagine what standing could do for you!
2. Lower the risk of heart disease
The idea that standing is better for heart health was first proposed in 1953. More than 60 years ago, a study of bus conductors found that those who stood all day had half the risk of dying from heart disease than sedentary bus drivers.
Sixty years later, a comparison of 18 studies involving nearly 800,000 participants came to the same conclusions as the original bus conductor study. They found that a sedentary lifestyle was associated with a 90% increased risk of cardiovascular death and a 147% increased risk of heart disease compared to an active lifestyle.
It is so harmful that even an hour of intense exercise cannot offset the negative effects of a full day of sitting.
There's no doubt that spending more time on your feet is beneficial for heart health.
3. Up to 20% more brain power
Research shows that sitting too much has negative effects on the body and brain. If you sit in one position for hours, your blood pressure is likely to rise, which can be dangerous. Standing desks help people work in an upright position and move more naturally. This is also associated with higher productivity.
On average, active adults gain an hour a day in productivity because regular physical activity improves their circulation and cardiovascular system. The total benefit can be up to 13 hours per day. Studies have shown that standing desks can increase productivity by up to 20%. One reason is that standing improves collaboration between colleagues, which can result in getting things done faster.
4. Significantly less fatigue at work
Another explanation for the increased productivity from the last point is that height-adjustable desks allow their users to be more physically active, which increases blood flow and blood oxygen levels. When more oxygen-rich blood is pumped to the brain, it helps you think more clearly, focus better, and work much more efficiently. Overall, people who work standing feel more alert and energetic during work hours.
5. Better mood in the office
Sitting and prolonged sedentary work are associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety. So it stands to reason that standing would improve mood and increase happiness.
During the "Take-a-Stand Project" in 2011, a group of 24 office workers were provided with a standing desk. Participants self-reported that their mood improved over the course of the four-week study, as they reduced the time they spent sitting by an average of 66 minutes.
At the end of the 4-week intervention period, participants were asked a series of questions about the specific benefits of alternating between sitting and standing. Their answers were as follows:
"87% felt more comfortable, 87% felt more energetic, 75% felt healthier, 71% felt more focused, 66% felt more productive, 62% felt happier and 33% felt less stressed after doing the sit-stand equipment installed at their workplace."
Interestingly, when the sit-stand desks were removed, participants' mood deteriorated. This suggests that using a standing desk needs to be part of an overall lifestyle adjustment to reap the full benefits.
6. Standing lowers the risk of weight gain and obesity
People who stand most of the day enjoy a number of benefits. dr John Barkley from the University of Chester found in a study that the heart beats an average of 10 times per minute when standing. That makes a difference of 0.7 calories per minute.
Ultimately, weight gain is caused by consuming more calories than you burn. Conversely, burning more calories than you consume leads to weight loss. That means you can burn over 43000 more calories over the course of a year! If you stand 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, you will burn over 6 kg per year.
Sitting requires little to no energy, but standing activates your body and burns fat.
This calorie difference could be one of the reasons why prolonged sitting is so strongly associated with obesity and metabolic diseases.
7. Saves money in the long run
Companies in particular benefit from height-adjustable tables. According to the Fraunhofer Institute for Labor Economics, German companies suffer 35 billion euros in damage every year, which can be traced back to absenteeism and lost productivity due to back pain. Less absenteeism due to better health also serves the profitability of a company. Investing in height-adjustable desks saves money in the long run.
