With an overwhelming percentage of the working force operating in offices, many businesses are looking for the healthiest, most comfortable, and most productive work spaces to offer their employees. This applies to more than quality lighting and regular breaks – office workers will spend the majority of their careers sitting down at their desks, and that means desks are the most crucial aspect to focus on.
Enter Standing Desks, which can be adjusted to serve as a traditional sitting desk or be lifted to allow employees to work on their feet. In recent years, they’ve gained great popularity and they only seem to be getting better. Here are three main reasons why Standing Desks are so well-loved by offices:
- They Offer Comfort
As comfortable as sitting on your butt is, the human body was meant to be on the go, and that means that while standing may seem unappealing at first, it actually improves employee comfort in the big ways and the small.
- Fewer Joint Pains
Nothing helps the afternoon lull drag you down quite like that sore feeling; ever stand up from work and feel like your legs ran a marathon? This is your body sending signals saying it doesn’t like being forced into that position day in and day out, and wants some movement. Standing Desks allow employees to stand as they work, eliminating a stagnant position that leads to joint pains and a sense of fatigue.
- Flexibility
There’s only so much movement sitting can allow, and even taking the time to stretch out your back can take a few precious moments away from work. With Standing Desks, this issue is eliminated, offering you the chance to shift your feet around, adjust your weight, stretch out your legs and rock your shoulders without losing focus on your work. This makes it possible for you to work longer and harder without feeling as though you’ve been forced into a box – helping employees with injuries as well as the deadline-crunch worker.
- They Improve Long-term Health
Work is great and all, but what if it kills you in the next ten years? Studies are proving that sitting for your entire workday can lead to just that, while Standing Desks wrap up that problem and throw it out the window.
- Longer Lifespan
A study was conducted in Australia on over 200,000 people, and the results said that people over 45 years old had a 40% chance of dying in the following three years if they sat for over 11 hours a day. On the flipside, those who sat for less than three hours a day had a much higher chance of living several decades despite their current health, disabilities, or bad habits. With Standing Desks making a positive influence not just on your joints and productivity level, but on your actual lifespan, it’s clear office workers are flocking to its advantages – and away from death.
- Resistance Against Cancer
Standing up may not be the cure to cancer, but it can certainly help stave off the possibility in your future. By restricting the body’s ability to move and improve its metabolism, you’re essentially creating a breeding ground for cells to start self-destructing out of basically – in a less scientific term – boredom. The World Health Organization conducted studies that proved not moving around is one of the biggest contributing factors to breast and colon cancer, making it clear that simply being able to stand while you’re at work improves your future.
- Resistance Against Heart Disease
Since the heart’s main function is to pump blood, it’s sensible to say it would hold a strike if its blood-pumping abilities were being restricted for a huge portion of the day while you handle tasks and try to advance your career. Sitting slows your pulse, and this leads to a general stagnation within the body, making all of your vital organs and cells go on break – and stay on break for up to eight hours a day. With our physiology being designed for movement, a Standing Desk makes it possible to find a middle ground – you can’t run a marathon while holding that conference call, but you can at least do better than sitting around.
- They Improve Short-term Health
Standing Desks pack a punch for your more immediate concerns as well, making it possible for you to lose weight easier and actually be better at your job after a short period of use.
- Greater Focus and Awareness
Standing upright kicks your heart into second gear as far as pumping blood goes, and this allows for better circulation throughout your entire system. Since blood is vital for more than just looking awesome in action movies, your muscles, organs, and especially the most important organ of all – your brain – can benefit from a boost to its senses. This allows you to avoid those irritating cold hands and feet, sensations of numbness, and eventually blood clots leading to future health issues. On an even more business-savvy level, a boost to your senses allows you to concentrate on your work more thoroughly, producing greater results and boosting productivity as a whole.
- Greater Ability to Process Fats
Humans were meant to be go-getters, and so when our body is stagnant, everything that makes us function properly stagnates as well. A range of studies proved that when a person sits, their ability to process fats goes almost entirely on strike, making it clear why office workers are also stereotyped as being overweight. This not only damages your longer-term health, but leads to a drop in mood and morale, affecting you in your personal life as well as in your work life.
Standing Desks are more than just a fashionable craze; they’re making a real difference on life and a worker’s ability to do their job well. With all these advantages becoming more well-known, it’s no wonder this new form of office desk is only growing in popularity.
