How often should you stand up from your desk
Introduction
If you spend the majority of your day sitting down, chances are you spend a lot of time wondering about when it’s OK to stand up from your desk. On either side of the spectrum, there are strict opinions about what constitutes as excessive desk time — one side says that you shouldn’t get up at all, and others say that it’s ok to stand intermittently throughout the entire workday.
In reality, both camps have some legitimate points to make.
When we’re sitting all day, our bodies aren’t in a particularly good position for supporting us. When you combine that fact with the fact that we get little to no activity during our days, it’s not a surprise that many of us are experiencing back and posture problems.
However, just as there are risks associated with sitting all day, there are also risks associated with standing all day. If you don’t move your body throughout the day, then the risk for exhaustion-related accidents increases significantly. In fact, standing all day can be just as detrimental to your health as sitting all day. You may want to look into a manual or electric stand up desk as it can help mix things up.
Although it may seem daunting at first, standing all day is something that you can achieve.
Without a doubt, there are some ideas floating around about the benefits of standing all day. One of these ideas is that it helps prevent back pain. The truth of the matter is that heavy lifting does increase overall back strength. However, this also puts a significant amount of stress on your muscles and can actually cause back problems.
Another idea is that standing all day helps burn calories. Although it’s true that standing up burns more calories than sitting down, the optimal number of calories burned by standing all day is only about 100 calories. Standing all day won’t make you lose weight, but it may just be enough to help you avoid gaining extra weight .
It’s also thought that standing up will help you slow down your aging process. It’s not a surprise, since studies have shown that sitting too much increases your risk of early onset of diseases such as diabetes and certain types of cancer.
