Recently, there has been an influx of standing desks for offices. Whether your workplace employs an open layout or not, Kiwi offices are using various, innovative styles of standing desks to make employees more productive.
If you are picking up office desks for your workplace in Christchurch, here is another thing that you should know about using standing desks. A study shows that even though standing while working is good for your team’s productivity, moving around prevents the negative effects of prolonged postures.
Why Prolonged Sitting is Bad for Your Health
Smithsonian Magazine calls sitting the new smoking and for a good reason, too.
Once you sit, it slows down the activity in your muscles, and you start to burn as low as one calorie per minute. Prolonged sitting increases your risk of obesity and high cholesterol. The development of Type 2 Diabetes is also possible.
Plus, women are likely to lose 1% of bone mass annually if they sit more than six hours a day. People also gradually become less responsive to insulin the longer they sit.
Encouraging Employees to Move
In 2013, Jane Pierce, who works with a rehabilitation and vocational company, shared that moving around promotes a healthier office. She shared that during her investigation, not many people were too keen on standing and that some offices had employees that did not make an effort of using standing desks.
Her recommendations included standing for two to four hours with light activity on the side during work hours. Apart from this, she suggests taking standing or walking breaks, using adjustable height desks, and task variation to interrupt long sitting.
But while prolonged sitting is bad, so is spending a long time standing, as it can lead to lower back problems and increase your chances of developing deep vein thrombosis and varicose veins.
Choosing to jump on the standing desks bandwagon is not bad, as this provides health benefits and increased productivity that sitting does not.