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Standing Desk
The first move is easy. But it’s really the follow-through that will ward off the problems that result from the lack of daily physical activity now so common in American life.
The U.S. Department of Human Services reports that less than 5 percent of American adults participates in 30 minutes of physical activity each day; only one in three adults engages in the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity each week.
“Certainly, sitting has ill effects on our health—not only because of the jobs that we do and lifestyles that have caused us to become much more sedentary,” says Chad Henriksen, D.C., director of WorkSiteRight, a program at Northwestern Health Sciences University that helps companies set up onsite clinics and provide employee wellness education.
Those problems, Henriksen says, can include cardiovascular disease, increased blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, greater risk of some cancers, diabetes and even depression and anxiety. One antidote is increasing your daily activity, says Henriksen, an expert in ergonomics and workplace health and safety.
Is it Sitting or the Way We Sit?
“It’s both,” he says. “It’s the fact that we sit for much more of the day than we did in the past, but if we sit with poor mechanics, that speeds up the risk factors associated with prolonged sitting.”
He notes that complications from sitting often have to do with poor posture—slouching, leaning or twisting in your chair. He says that when seated:
- Your feet should rest comfortably on the floor, and you should have a 90-degree angle at the hip joint
- Your lumbar spine should be supported by the chairback (don’t perch on the front of your seat)
- Your ears should fall in line with your shoulders and in line with the hip joint (don’t lean forward)
- Your focus should align with the top third of your computer monitor, so you don’t have flexion or extension of your neck
- You keyboard should be set so your elbows can rest comfortably at your sides, at a 90-degree angle, with no wrist flexion or extension
There is no on-size-fits-all solution for setting up your work station, Henriksen says, “because we’re taller, we’re smaller, we’re wider, we’re thinner. All of these things come into play, and that’s the importance of having a basic of understanding of what’s ideal.”
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Anatomy of Sitting Well
Get Up and Move
“Use the stairs instead of the elevator; don’t park as close to the front door; select a printer that is farther from your desk; or set calendar reminders to remind you to be active,” he says. “There are a lot of things we can do within the work environment—even a sedentary work environment—to increase healthy activities.”
But what of the very trendy standing desk?
“Prolonged standing is as bad as prolonged sitting,” Henriksen says. “Sometimes people don’t like to hear me say that. The science is pretty clear on this, too. There are health hazards and health risks from prolonged sitting—and there are health hazards and health risks from prolonged standing.”
Standing can create more stress in the feet, exacerbate ankle-joint issues or cause lower extremity circulation problems for some people. But he acknowledges that for many people the sit-stand desk mitigates the prolonged strain of sitting in a single position.
“We recommend multiple changes throughout the day, with no period longer that 45 minutes to one hour of standing,” he says. “This promotes movement during the day, even if you are tied to a single work station. We have evolved to thinking that moving between sitting and standing is probably ideal—in my opinion, the sit-stand option is by far the best.”
*Henricksens and the WorkSiteRight team performs initial consultations with business leaders for their onsite clinics. Time spent sitting or standing for a length of time is part of the initial assessment.
What’s the Buzz?
For many employers, the latest fitness focus is on “low-level activities” that affect overall health. “It’s not about going to the gym and working out,” Henriksen says. “It’s alternating your sitting and standing; it’s walking to the restroom that is farther from your office. What we see is that employees appreciate employers that invest in their overall health and well-being.”
So, what should be the New Year’s resolution for desk jockeys: sitting up, standing, or hopping? The answer is all of the above and none of the above, Henriksen says. The trick is to exercise, come to work in good shape and make a stand—for the right to take a quick break and move every hour, every day. “Our ability to change our health habits,” he says, “is when the real benefits take place.“
Located in Bloomington, Northwestern Health Sciences University is a pioneer in integrative natural healthcare education, offering degree programs in chiropractic, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, massage therapy, nutrition, post-bac, pre-health/pre-med and B.S. completion. Its clinic is open to the public and provides chiropractic treatment, massage therapy, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, naturopathic medicine and physical therapy.
See more content from Northwestern Health Sciences University.
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