7 Surprising Benefits of Using a Sit Stand Desk

A sit-stand desk, sometimes written “sit stand desk”, is a powerful tool for enhancing productivity and promoting better health at work. Among the most talked-about features are the benefits of sit stand desk setups, which include reducing sedentary time, boosting energy levels, and encouraging more movement throughout your day.

In this article, we’ll explore many of the surprising benefits of sit-stand desks, but first, it’s important to understand why they matter. How exactly do these desks help you avoid the risks of prolonged sitting, and even the discomforts of standing too long? Let’s take a closer look at some of those health hazards and how a sit-stand desk can help you overcome them.

Dangers of Prolonged Sitting

The drawbacks of prolonged sitting have been known for quite some time. That's probably why, in 1503, Leonardo da Vinci chose to paint the Mona Lisa while standing at his easel, not sitting.

Sitting just doesn't draw out your best work, and, as things turn out, it can be bad for your health.

Sitting Slows Down Metabolism

One compelling reason for standing desks is the nature of prolonged sitting on one's metabolism. Metabolism slows down with age and inactivity. 

As that occurs, it becomes easier to experience weight gain and susceptibility to disease. The human body needs to stay busy to stop this from happening.

 

That's tough to do when you're working a 40-hour weekly job (or more) and rarely moving from your desk. If nothing else, sit-stand desks and standing desks help to break up the monotony and get the blood circulating.

Hurts Posture

Another danger of prolonged sitting comes from poor posture. You find yourself hunched over, your spine bent at unhealthy angles for the majority of the day.

 

Worse yet, you don't even realise it's happening until you get up to move around for a bit. Or, even worse, you injure your lower back when taking up exercise or some form of strenuous activity later.

 

Back injuries such as pulled muscles and slipped disks lead to more serious healthcare risks. It's also not cheap to seek medical treatments for these maladies.

Affects Social Relationships

Sitting all day at a desk is no way to maintain friendships or exercise social skills. It can make you more antisocial and less likely to engage in water cooler chats and other types of face-to-face interactions that make work enjoyable.

A tough day at the office behind a computer can also make human interaction the last thing on your mind when you go home at night. As a result, what do you do? You crash on the couch and binge three or four hours of Netflix. With each passing minute that you spend sitting or sedentary, the health risks multiply. This feeds loneliness and depression.

Accelerates Chronic Pain

Using a standing desk can help you to avoid many of the things we've already talked about. It can also protect you from the development of chronic pains that come through poor posture, poor exercise, and poor diet. 

 

All of these factors affect prolonged sitters more than they do active people. And the more this lifestyle is fed into, the faster and more intense the pain comes.

Can Lead to Serious Illnesses

Prolonged sitting has been linked to many life-threatening illnesses like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. It does so because it keeps you from doing the things you need to do to stave off these issues.

 

When you sit all day, you're less likely to eat the right things. You're less likely to burn off the snacks and meals that you take in throughout the day. 

 

The excess weight, the poor lifestyle choices, all add up. Developing illnesses seize on these behaviours and proliferate.

Disadvantages of a Standing Desk

With all the things that can go wrong from sitting, why not just flip full-time to the standing desk? Well, standing desks offer definite improvements to the sedentary worker who sits too long during the day.

 

However, they're not without their disadvantages. See, prolonged sitting can spawn health issues as well, such as: 

Joint and Back Pain

One of the first things many will point to when positively answering the question of why use a standing desk is how it can save you from joint and back pain. As we've established, sitting for more than six hours each day in many of the negative postures that are just natural to sitting takes a toll.

 

It causes stress on the spine and back muscles that make them more susceptible to injury. The same is true for prolonged standing, especially if you're not moving around a whole lot or pausing now and then to stretch. 

Burning Out Quicker

A standing desk can be a great motivator not to sit. But if that's the only option you give yourself throughout the day, it's easy to get sick of it and burn out.

 

When you burn out from using a standing desk, you go right back to sitting, often for the same or even longer periods. Once again, your health and productivity suffer.

Swelling

Standing for too long each day can lead to swelling in the legs and ankles and other parts of the body where circulation is important. This can create varicose veins, or mild swelling of the veins, that lead to sores that don't heal or ulcers. Thankfully, there is a better way than 100 per cent sitting or 100 per cent standing. In the remainder of this article, we'll be honing in on that "better way" by sharing the benefits of a sit-stand desk combination. Let's continue!
 

Advantages of a Standing Desk

While prolonged use of standing desks has been a topic, most discussion revolves around the health benefits of sit and stand desk setups. Given the right use, you can alternate between seated and standing positions throughout your workday. Here are some of them:

1. Encourages More Movement

The "sit-stand desk" allows you to move around more during the workday because you can easily switch back and forth. This benefits you while you're standing because you can always lower it and take your seat when you start feeling burned out. It helps while sitting because it's easy to pop back up and continue what you're doing while moving around the office in thought. It also encourages you to do more proactive things like stepping away for a walk and coming back for a standing session.

2. Gives You Flexibility

While encouraging more movement, the nature of hybrid sitting and standing means more flexibility with how you choose to spend your workday. Do what you want, when you want. Pay attention to how your body and mind start to slag and use that as an opportunity to change positions.

3. Makes It Easier to Break Up Your Day

Another of the advantages of sitting and standing desks is that they allow you to more easily break up your day. Come in during the first part of your day and take an hour to sit in your favourite office chair. Set a timer for that hour and pop back up when it's over. This way, you can keep your mind fresh and active by planning when you switch throughout the workday. This makes it easier to break up your work duties. 

4. Prevents Many Issues From Prolonged Sitting

We've already covered the dangers of prolonged sitting. The standing portion of the sit-stand desk is the remedy for this. Again, listen to how your body is responding. If you're starting to hurt in your upper legs and buttocks areas, then take it as a cue to get up and move. When you come back, work from the standing position until your knees, ankles, and legs start to tell you it's time to sit.

5. And Prolonged Standing

Standing can help your focus until it starts making your body uncomfortable. At that point, it's a good idea to listen to what your shoulders, back, and legs are telling you. If you notice swelling, varicose veins, or back pains, take advantage of your sit-stand desk's versatile nature. 

6. Increases Productivity

The reality of a sit-stand desk is that it's two desks in one. Those two functions help you toggle your efforts back and forth so that you can maximise your productivity. As we've emphasized in this article, paying attention to your body is important, but you also need to pay attention to your mind. As focus wanes, an adjustment to a new position can be greatly beneficial. Just forcing yourself to do one or the other with no change-up can be equally damaging either way. 

7. Decreases Idle Time

Whether standing or sitting is your only option, you're susceptible to "zoning out" during the workday. Giving into daydreams instead of your to-do list has broken many a student and employee. Don't think just because you're at a standing desk that you're impervious to this. A sit-stand desk decreases this idle time because it allows you to switch gears with minimal effort.

Try a Sit Stand Desk to Get the Best of Both Worlds

The "sit stand desk" is a game-changer for helping office workers and students alike defeat sitting and standing diseases and disorders. It will help them reduce idle time and become more productive at whatever tasks lay ahead of them. 

 

Are you in the market for a stand desk in nz that can help you boost your output and improve your health? Check out the massive assortment of electric standing desks now available through Capital Commercial Furniture.