Do Standing Desks Really Improve Your Health?
Office workers have been found to spend up to 90% of their working day sitting at a desk (Gregory Garrett, 2016). Leading to a large variety of health problems causing negative effects on personal well being and workplace productivity.
Standing desks are a great way to combat this, and have been rapidly increasing in popularity within Australian workspaces.
Standing Desks Burns Calories
Standing desks have been proven to decrease the risk of weight gain, obesity and heart disease. These serious health issues are on the rise in Australia and are predominantly caused by a sedentary lifestyle.
According to Dr. John Buckley from the University of Chester: Standing burns almost twice as many kilojoules per second as opposed to sitting. In terms of calories, standing for an hour burns around 50 calories.
“If you stand for three hours a day for five days that’s around 750 calories burnt. Over the course of a year it would add up to about 30,000 extra calories, or around 8lb of fat…that would be the equivalent of running about 10 marathons a year. Just by standing up three or four hours in your day at work” (BBC, 2013)
Improve Your Comfort and Productivity Level
In addition, back pain is another of the most common complaints that come from office workers and studies have shown that standing desks can dramatically decrease back pain caused by prolonged sitting.
One study found that almost 75% of people working at standing desks noticed a reduction in body discomfort and back pain (University of Texas, 2016). This increase in workplace comfort directly impacted employee mindset and positivity, resulting in an increase in productivity.
Throughout many studies, stand up desks have been found to be a likely contributor to increases in employee efficiency. In one study, the effectiveness of standing desk users was found to have increased over time from 23% in the first month to 53% over the next six months (Gregory Garrett, 2016). This was in direct correlation to the feelings of overall health felt by employees as employee wellbeing and moral increased.
How can Victory Offices help?
Victory Offices is dedicated to providing flexible office solutions that emphasise the health and well being of our members. We offer a range of facilities to promote a healthy lifestyle, and work life balance. Talk to our friendly reception staff today to discuss access to discounted local gym memberships, first class end of trip facilities, free yoga or Tai Chi sessions and of course access to a standing desk.
