Working while standing up is both possible and good for your health! The benefits are huge: it burns fat, it keeps your back straighter and it boosts circulation because it induces you to move about. Standing up at work burns uses up calories to the extent that people who work on their feet burn 200 more a day, equivalent to 30 minutes on an exercise bike. Furthermore, the consequent muscle contraction effect facilitates the return of venous blood to the heart.
One of the most obvious benefits is the ability to change posture during working hours. Sitting for hours often induces poor posture of the neck and shoulders, which in the long term can cause problems such as muscle-joint pain and cervical pain. Standing up every so often while working enables the transfer of tension and weight to other parts of the body, thus relieving any pain and redistributing the workload onto other muscles. But standing desks don’t just have physical benefits: many studies have also shown that working on your feet encourages creativity and productivity. This is put down to an increase in blood circulation and the encouragement of continual movement, which stimulates both body and mind. It’s no accident that one of the most innovative ways to hold a meeting is to do so standing up, stimulating the creation of new ideas within the team.
According to a study published in the journal British Journal of Sports Medicine, working while standing up may even improve productivity among workers as well as their health. The recommended amount of time spent standing up is at least two hours in the working day, because a sedentary lifestyle is an important factor in the risk of cardiovascular and other diseases. To maximise personal well-being it’s therefore necessary to interrupt periods of inactivity by getting up or walking during the day, always remembering to do some kind of physical exercise.
