GET UP, STAND UP
By Christian Cho
I have a standing desk at work. At home, I sit on a yoga ball in front of the computer. I’m not an anti-sitter. I like sitting because I’m lazy it’s comfortable. But the reality is that standing for the majority of your day if you have a desk job has its health benefits. Multiple research studies link sitting with increased rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other ailments. But even if you’re relatively young and have good health markers, think about the position your body is in:
- Shortened hip flexors.
- Rounded thoracic spine.
- Internally rotated shoulders.
- Hyperextended cervical spine.
- And scariest of all…a saggy butt.
I couldn’t ask for a whole new standing desk at work, so I asked for the Kangaroo Desk from ErgoDesktop. Here’s my setup at work:
Read this article. Or this one. Maybe this one? How about watching this video? Okay, how about peer-reviewed articles? Like this one. Or this one. Or this one. If you’re not convinced, stop reading. But if you are convinced, come up with ways to get up and be active on a regular basis. Eat standing up. Read standing up. Take phone calls standing up.
One last image for you. Here is a comparison of blood levels of dietary fats. The left is after someone has eaten sitting down. The right, standing up. What’s happening physiologically is that eating while standing encourages the uptake of dietary fats into muscles, leading to muscle growth and burning more fat – even more so than vigorous exercise. Chew on that.
