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Over the last few years, height-adjustable desks have gone from an office novelty to a more permanent and sought for feature. This is especially due to people becoming increasingly more aware of the harmful effects sitting for long periods of time has on their health. In fact, it has even been said, while a dramatic statement, many medical experts now believe this to be correct.
Height-adjustable desks have given those who work in offices a new ray of hope as they allow employees the choice to work both sitting and standing. However, despite the advantages of a height-adjustable desk, it&#;s not for everyone. So, it&#;s important to weigh out the pros and cons before making a decision. In this article we provide you with all the information you need to know before making a purchase.
An average office worker is said to sit for 15 hours a day &#; of course not just in the office. However, this is a shockingly large amount of time, so there is no wonder that employee health is a growing concern. This is especially due to the health impacts that sitting for long periods of time has.
Research has shown sitting for more than 8 hours a day can result in a heightened risk of early death and cardiovascular disease, the risk of type 2 diabetes is also said to increase the longer you sit each day.
So, the obvious pro of height-adjustable desks is of course the positive health benefits it has on workers. Height-adjustable desks encourage employees to stretch their legs more at regular intervals due to their flexibility, allowing workers to alternate between sitting and standing whilst working. But what are the other pros?
Improves productivity:
Plenty of research has shown that productivity increases while someone is standing at their desk because they feel more motivated to complete their tasks for the day
. APromotes up to 20% more mental activity:
According to experts, human brain activity increases by up to 20% when working at a height-adjustable desk. This results in faster, higher quality decision-making processes.
Time saving:
The increased efficiency found when employees work at a height-adjustable desk, saves time in the long term. These sit-stand desks increase efficiency by at least 10% meaning work is finished more efficiently and so allows for more time to move on to other projects. In addition, absentees with conditions caused by permanent sitting (such as back pains) are reduced. One study revealed 47% of people with height-adjustable desks reported a significant reduction in upper back, shoulder, or neck discomfort.
Saves money:
That brings us to our next point, employees that are not constantly distracted by fatigue, neck tension or back pain will work more efficiently. According to a study by Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, German companies incur an annual loss of 35 million euros due to absentees and reduced productivity caused by back problems alone. Therefore, less absentees serves profitability for a company as well &#; saving money in the long term.
Improved meetings:
A study by behavioural experts showed that people communicate significantly better when standing compared to sitting. At standing meetings, the voice is said to be fuller, more dynamic, and more convincing which helps to increase overall performance of meetings.
To find out more about the benefits, visit our blog all about the benefits of height adjustable desks. But now, we shall move onto the cons.
While it&#;s proven that height-adjustable desks do have their health benefits and can most definitely result in improved productivity from workers, they do come with cons too.
One con is that there is a risk your workers don&#;t reap from the benefits a height-adjustable desk provides because they either are not given any direction on how to use them, or because they just don&#;t meet their needs.
Dr April Chambers at The University of Pittsburg warned that providing height-adjustable desks to employees without any guidance or instructions on how to use them will mean they may not see the benefits, so therefore the purchase will end up being a waste of time. She said if you are purchasing a height-adjustable desk for your business, employees should be taught how to set up their desk and shown the appropriate height it should be raised and how it can be used.
Counterarguments for height-adjustable desks also state that creative work such as writing or designing is significantly more difficult whilst standing, rendering them useless to those who work more creatively. Some workers have complained that the discomfort of standing for long periods of time makes them take breaks from their desk more often, even when they feel motivated to continue working. This could easily be solved though with a height-adjustable desk, where the employee has the option to sit or stand.
It&#;s important not to forget that standing, especially for prolonged periods, carries risks too. For example, it can contribute to poor posture, sore feet, and tightened joints. Therefore, when using a height-adjustable desk, it is better to alternate between standing and sitting to gain the most benefit from it, rather than doing too much of one or the other.
Another disadvantage is that a height-adjustable desk will be quite clearly more expensive than a standard desk. Nevertheless, considering the pros, it becomes clear that the investment in the long run will pay for itself.
Height-adjustable desks can be a worthy investment due to their many health benefits, provided employees receive guidance on how to use them to fully reap the benefits.
At Haiken, we provide a variety of height-adjustable desks including Flexure which provides endless opportunities for flexibility with its telescopic frame, and of course, our robust Wolfe desk that offers maximum strength for minimum weight.
Are you hunting for height-adjustable desks for your workspace? Contact our friendly team at Haiken today and we will be more than happy to help you find the perfect fit.
The health consequences of sedentary behavior, including working while seated for prolonged periods, are well known and devastating.
People who spend most of their days sitting have a higher risk of developing cancer, cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and premature death.
Of course, it hasn&#;t helped that a lot of the work done in offices today requires people to be sitting and hunched over their laptops or PCs.
This runs contrary to how the human body has been designed to be in motion, and not stuck in one place, doing monotonous work. Prolonged sitting affects posture and is harmful to the spine.
Hence, it is important to consciously integrate movement into your office work routine so as not to reap the harmful effects of sedentary lifestyles.
Aside from standing and moving every once in a while to get away from your desk, there are office furniture trends designed to encourage movement.
Height-adjustable desks are now a popular fixture in the modern office. They make the transition from sitting to standing completely effortless.
These occasional shifts in the body&#;s position and posture are not only essential for efficient blood circulation but also for keeping the mind alert.
We've listed the top seven health benefits of height adjustable desks below. After reading these you'll wonder how you ever worked without one.
Backaches and pain are common complaints among office workers. Lower back pain, is related to stress &#; both physical and psychological.
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Studies have shown that employees suffering from chronic back pain benefit greatly from standing desks. Another study published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed that standing desks can reduce upper back and neck pain by as much as 54 percent in just a matter of four weeks.
Of course, the reverse is also true. Once standing desks are removed, the benefits gained from flexible or height-adjustable desks can be reversed in just two weeks by going back to extended sitting.
In one seven-week study, users of height-adjustable desks were said to have experienced less stress and fatigue compared to those who worked seated every day.
Moreover, 87 percent of those who were asked to use standing desks said they felt more energetic overall.
Conversely, when they were asked to go back to their old work desks, their moods dropped, returning to the levels they felt prior to the study.
The results of this research confirm the connection between a sedentary lifestyle and a higher risk of suffering from depression and anxiety.
For those who are unfamiliar with using height-adjustable desks, one primary concern is that they can negatively impact a person&#;s ability to perform routine tasks such as typing.
However, for those who have successfully transitioned from working seated full time to using height-adjustable desks, there has been no significant impact on their ability to perform the same tasks, including typing speed.
Moreover, because of the mood-boosting effects of standing desks on users, it is fairly certain that they boost productivity.
If you&#;ve ever envisioned a couch potato then you know exactly what this means. Staying seated all day, no matter how busy the mind and typing fingers are, doesn't do the body any favors with regard to calorie burning.
Sitting may burn between 60 and 102 calories per hour &#;&#;(these figures, of course, depend on your weight)&#;, while standing will burn roughly seven to 10 calories more.
The small difference in caloric burn may not seem significant. However, the difference can add up if you consider how it accumulates over a week, month or year.
This concept is nothing new since it was proposed as far back as . In a study comparing bus conductors with bus drivers, it was found that the conductors had half the risk of dying from heart disease-related causes as their sedentary counterparts manning the wheels.
It was this study that sparked scientific interest in the effects of sitting on cardiovascular health.
It is now believed that prolonged sitting can increase a person&#;s risk of developing heart disease by as much as 147 percent. The harmful effects of a sedentary lifestyle are so destructive that not even an hour of intense exercise can completely offset them.
Any increase in blood sugar after meals is generally bad for health. This is especially true if you suffer from type II diabetes.
However, in one study of office employees who worked while standing for three hours after lunch, the blood sugar increase was reduced by 43 percent compared to when they remained seated for the same amount of time.
In another study, it was shown that standing and sitting alternately every 30 minutes during an entire workday helped reduce blood sugar spikes by around 11 percent.
Remaining seated after a meal, meanwhile, is known to increase the risk of developing type II diabetes by as much as 112 percent.
As mentioned earlier, there is a strong link between early death, type II diabetes, heart disease, and a sedentary lifestyle.
Conversely, more movement increases a person&#;s chances of not only losing weight but also improving health overall. In fact, one study showed that by simply decreasing sitting time to only three hours per day, the life expectancy of the average American can increase by two years.
Although more studies need to be done to conclusively establish cause and effect between more movement and longer lifespans, past studies and currently available evidence show that simply standing more can help improve health in general.
Just like any form of physical activity, suddenly switching from sitting all day to standing all day is not advisable.
If you do this, you run the risk of suffering from leg, back, neck, or foot pain. What you need to do is to gradually ease yourself into it by starting with 30 to 60 minutes of standing per day, and slowly increasing it.
T&#;o ensure you don&#;t stand too much all at once, use an alarm to remind you when you need to switch from standing to sitting and vice versa.
You also need to find out for yourself what tasks you are able to perform more efficiently while standing vs being seated. This way, you can use a height-adjustable or standing desk optimally for performing daily assignments.
Introducing height-adjustable or standing desks in the workplace should be treated as a way of providing employees another flexible desk seating alternative.
Additionally, to benefit employees who use them, the desks need to be adjusted to suit each user&#;s height and physical requirements.
Users also need to observe the following to ensure they benefit from this new physical work arrangement:
If you&#;re looking to add office furniture that will boost worker productivity through the provision of a quiet environment, Zenbooth meeting pods are an excellent option. Our products come in sizes that fit 1-6 people. Modular conference rooms like the ones below add a meeting area otherwise not found in open offices.
They're perfect for agile office environments where the layout is designed to suit different team needs.
They not only help workers focus on their tasks, but they also feature height-adjustable desks in the single and double-size models.
Are you planning adding modular offices to your workspace and have questions about our Zenbooths? All you need to do is to give us a call. We&#;ll be happy to help make your floor plan as comfortable and productive as possible.
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