Whether you’re working at home or you’re back in the office, there’s a good chance that you spend a lot of your day tied to your desk. Over time, spending so much time sitting at your desk (even when it feels like a necessity) can actually prove to be damaging to your overall health and wellness. Luckily, there are many ways that you can prevent these ill effects and actually burn calories while at work. One method is surprising simple. By using a standing desk, you can improve your fitness while remaining comfortable and productive at the office—wherever it is you find yourself working these days.
Here, we’re taking a closer look into this innovative office wellness product. We also review some of the top benefits to using a standing desk whether you’re working at home or you’re back in the traditional office.
Table of Contents
What is a Standing Desk?
Also referred to as a stand-up desk, a standing desk is a surprisingly simple—yet effective—office wellness product. As the name suggests, a standing desk allows someone to comfortably stand while working from a traditional desk—something that has become almost inevitable for modern office workers. With a standing desk, you can adjust the heigh of the desk so that no matter your height or personal preference you can find a comfortable way to use your desk and stay productive during your day. Since you can fully adjust standing desks, most of these items can be lowered to look like a traditional desk so you can alternate between sitting and standing throughout your working day.
While additional research is still needed, many studies suggest that there can be impressive health benefits associated with using a standing desk. Standing, instead of sitting, during your day can help your burn calories and maintain a healthy weight. It can also dramatically lower your risk of developing serious health problems, such as heart disease or type-2 diabetes. So, if you’re looking for a way to stay productive, stay healthier, and even boost your mood, then you need to consider giving a standing desk a try.
Why it’s Important to Burn Calories While at Work
At first, it might seem like you really need to burn that many calories while at work. However, failing to do so, over time, can lead to a sedentary lifestyle that presents a range of health risks. A sedentary lifestyle is understood as a lifestyle where you get very little physical activity during your day. And in our modern office environments, plus our activities at home like simply leaning back and watching TV, a sedentary lifestyle has become more prominent than ever before for most individuals.
Over time, this type of lifestyle can have a negative impact on your physical and mental health. A sedentary lifestyle cuts down on the number of calories you burn in your day. As this process continues, it’s almost inevitable to gain weight. This can eventually develop into obesity that can negatively impact almost every aspect of your health. From a physiological perspective, a sedentary lifestyle also increases your risk of developing heart disease, type-2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. Research, in fact, suggests that being sedentary or inactive during your day can lead to a decreased lifespan.
5 Benefits of a Standing Desk
Preventing a sedentary lifestyle is just one of the key benefits you can experience by using a standing desk while at work. In fact, many people are surprised to learn just how many benefits there are to using this simple, yet innovative, office wellness device.
Looking for a reason to give a standing desk a try? Well, here’s five of them:
- Burn calories during your work day: struggling to find time to hit the gym after work? Well, that concern can be a thing of the past. With a standing desk, you can actually gradually burn calories while working and keeping up productivity.
- Help you maintain a healthy weight: when you’re able to steadily burn calories during your day, it becomes that much easier to maintain a healthy weight. Consuming more calories than you burn, over time, leads to weight gain. At an extreme, this can lead to obesity, which presents a range of harmful health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, and even a shorter life expectancy.
- May lower your risk of heart disease and diabetes: as previously noted, using a standing desk can help you lower your risk of a range of health problems that can prove very serious. In tandem with a healthy diet and regular exercise, a standing desk can boost your overall fitness.
- May help you stay focused: with so many distractions around these days (we’re looking primarily at you, smartphones) staying focused is more difficult, and more important, than ever before. Some studies suggest that staying on your feet, or even moderately active by using a desk treadmill or a similar device, can help you stay focused on your tasks. Improved focus? Improved productivity.
- Improves your mood and energy level: looking for a little boost at work without grabbing another energy drink? Believe it or not, but standing at your desk can actually increase your energy levels throughout the day. While this sounds counter-intuitive, standing actually improves blood flow and circulation throughout your body, which helps direct vital nutrients to your brain and organs. Additionally, research also suggests that using a standing desk can improve your mood. And let’s face it, who couldn’t benefit from a little mood boost while in the office?
Conclusion – 5 Benefits of a Standing Desk
Over time, sitting at your desk while at work isn’t just boring—it can actually become hazardous to your overall health and wellness. To help you avoid the risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle, consider adding an office wellness product, like a standing desk, to your home or traditional office. There are many benefits to using a standing desk. Not only can it help you burn calories and maintain a healthy weight, but a standing desk can even help you stay productive and focused. What’s not to love?
