Why Standing Desks Are More Than Just a Fad

How to spend a day peacefully at your workstation is a life-threatening issue for modern workers.

I want to follow the motto "standing is worse than sitting, sitting is worse than lying down", but unfortunately my boss won't let me lie down!

So I have no choice but to continue sitting, but the company's cheap office chair gives my old waist a fatal blow, causing back pain and leg cramps, and I just want to go home and not work.

After finally biting my teeth and preparing to buy myself a better ergonomic chair, I find that I am out of date again. "Standing desks" are the latest trend in the workplace.

What is the magic of standing desks that makes so many senior workers in large companies so popular?

According to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, about 1/4 of adults sit for more than 8 hours a day. [1] This means that most of people's waking hours are spent sitting for long periods of time. I believe that those of you who use your workstation as your home have a deep understanding of this!

A large number of studies have shown that long-term sitting increases the risk of abdominal obesity, cervical spondylosis, lumbar spondylosis, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hemorrhoids and other diseases, which is very harmful to health. [2] In order to deal with the harm caused by long-term sitting, "standing office" has become popular among some large companies and has been loved by many employees. Setting up standing office areas and providing lifting office equipment have become the standard for many large European and American companies to promote humanized office. In East Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea, more and more people choose to stand and work, and it has become a popular trend in the workplace. Adjustable office desks and chairs or lifting tables have gradually become the new favorites in the office furniture industry. The idea of ​​standing office is said to have originated from an attempt to solve the obesity problem of another group of people who sit for a long time - primary and secondary school students. German primary and secondary schools set up standing classrooms with high tables. After trying standing teaching for a period of time, it was found that the students lost an average of 2 kilograms in weight. △ Standing desks in British schools It is precisely this result that makes standing office accepted by office workers who are deeply troubled by problems such as abdominal obesity. A survey conducted jointly by the Non-communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration and the World Health Organization (WHO) and published in the famous academic journal The Lancet shows that the number of obese people in the world will reach more than 1 billion in 2022. [3] The data also shows that among adults, the obesity rate in women has more than doubled from 1990 to 2022 (from 8.8% to 18.5%), and the obesity rate in men has nearly tripled (from 4.8% to 14.0%). 43% of adults are facing the problem of being overweight. Abdominal obesity (commonly known as a big belly) is the most important manifestation of obesity in adults! Professor Cowen Fenton, Director of the Office of Health and Well-being at the UK Department of Public Health, believes that this is largely due to the nature of modern work. Replacing long periods of sitting with standing work can help consume energy, reduce weight, improve blood circulation, and promote cardiovascular health. Generally speaking, standing increases your heart rate by an average of 10 beats per minute, causing the body to burn an additional 0.7 kilocalories per minute. It also improves mobility, as standing increases the likelihood of walking more.

The 23Mofang health checkup includes a genetic test for your BMI (body mass index, a key metric for measuring obesity), which can reveal whether obesity may become a problem at work.

When the concept of standing desks first emerged, attention focused on their benefits for weight loss and increased exercise. However, the real reason for their global popularity is their relaxation benefits for workers' spines.

A study by April Chambers, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and others systematically analyzed the results of 53 studies, examining the impact of work posture on health across six dimensions: duration of the activity, physiological sensations, work performance, psychological sensations, discomfort, and posture. Ultimately, they confirmed that the greatest benefit of standing desks is the relief of physical discomfort and back pain. [4]

△ Comparison of the pressure on the spine between standing and various sitting postures[5]

At the same time, a large number of tests on spinal pressure have also come to a counterintuitive conclusion: sitting puts much more pressure on the spine than standing. In other words, standing is indeed the posture that puts the least pressure on the spine among all the postures suitable for work.

In this regard, 23 Magic Cube also has relevant "lumbar disc herniation" test content, which allows you to understand your risk of lumbar spine diseases and other diseases when sitting for a long time, and provides early self-examination suggestions.

If you are at high risk of lumbar spine disease or have started to feel uncomfortable, you may also consider changing your office posture and joining the army of standing office workers.

In addition, standing office is also believed to make people more energetic, help improve work efficiency and stimulate creativity.

Standing office increases blood oxygen circulation, can effectively improve employees' psychological function, and make people more energetic. Facebook employee Greg Hoy said, "I used to be sleepy by 3 p.m., but after switching to a standing desk, I feel energized all day."

Dan Fois published an experiment in New York Magazine, showing a significant increase in his productivity over 30 days of standing. He said, "I've significantly reduced the amount of time I waste, and I've edited and written more than I can remember in any other month."

This experience is not uncommon. Many people have noticed that they tend to be more productive when standing during their daily workdays, and they also spend less time on social media and other unproductive tasks.

Standing can also stimulate creativity and collaboration. At the very least, when people are standing, colleagues are more likely to be in close proximity and talk, leading to more cross-pollination of ideas.

British researchers, after surveying employees at six companies using standing desks, found that employees experienced improvements in stress levels and health, and reported greater energy, focus, and productivity. Public Health England has even issued a national health initiative: "To stay healthy, stand at your desk for one hour a day." In short, standing at work offers numerous benefits. Of course, no one can stand standing all the time, so it's important to combine standing and sitting, and change postures frequently.