Should I Be Sitting or Standing?
The answer is both!
There are many health benefits to standing over sitting at work, or at home, and keeping you, or your employees moving during the day can help to reduce the risk of heart disease. It can also help you control your weight, reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, improve circulation, and improve your mental health* plus increasing productivity and general wellbeing.
Obviously, being on your feet all day can also have a negative effect, so the ideal solution is to change your position from sitting to standing regularly during the day. The good news here is that you do not have to have a gym session every day to have these benefits. Changing from sitting to standing for as little 10 minutes per hour will have you going in the right direction.
Are Sit-Stand Desks the Answer?
As ever, there are no magic bullets but, a sit-stand desk set up properly and used correctly has a huge benefit for the health and wellbeing of most people who work from a desk either at the office or at home. Being able to adjust your body position through the working day reduces the stresses and strains of modern life.
Sit stand desk are only one part of a well set up workstation and you do need to consider your overall working environment or workstation assessments (Display Screen Equipment Assessments information can be found here) and not just the desk itself. Having your working environment correctly adjusted also help with reducing pain in your neck, shoulders, back and arms.***
Sit-Stand desk fall into two main categories, manual and electric, although manual is becoming less popular as the cost of electric starts to reduce. Electric adjustable desk also allows for the height to be adjusted to finer degree allowing staff of different heights to get the benefits of the standing option. As well as the health benefits, using sit-stand desk for hotdesking is a great option for an agile workforce.
Five Ways to Spend Less Time Sitting at Work or Home?**
- Try to take regular breaks from looking at your computer screen – This could be as simple as grabbing some water or speaking to a colleague.
- Stand instead of sitting when you can – Maybe have a standing or walking meeting.
- Stand up at work – This is where a sit-stand desk comes into its own where you can adjust the desk height regularly.
- Plan some activity when you would be sitting – You could get off public transport a stop early and walk for the last part of your commute for example.
- Set a time limit on sitting – Who doesn’t like chilling in front of the TV every now and again but even a short break for a cuppa will help.
Resources
* https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/activity/sitting-down
***https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/
Conclusion
Enabling you or your staff to change position whilst working or relaxing is an important consideration when choosing office furniture, as everything you interact with must work together to reduce the stresses and strains of the working day.
If you need any further advice or guidance on equipment for sitting or standing at work, or you or a member of staff have any specific issues, then please contact us to arrange a call or no obligation visit so we can advise on the best solution for you.