I saw in the office
of a CEO (Chief Executive Officer), who has a standing desk for
official works, like looking into files, writing replies and
discussing with the officials. He is a very health conscious person.
He walks everyday and plays badminton, when time permits. Apart from
all of these physical activities, he prefers to work in standing
desk.
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| A sedentary person, or "typical couch potato" (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Some
studies suggest that those who sit all day live around two years
less than those who are more active. In a 2012 study by Harvard
researchers published in the Lancet medical journal claimed that
sitting down had caused more deaths globally than tobacco.
If a person sleeps
for 7 hours a day and on a modern day job, he might be spending as
much as 16 hours in sitting in his office and watching TV in
residence. Even if, he walks for one hour a day, the sedentary life
style for 16 hours may nullify the benefits. It is stressed that in
addition to intense physical activity, one must also be active most
of the time excluding sleep time.
Standing-up
increases the heart rate by about ten beats a minute, which in turn
burns an extra 0.7 calories a minute, or 50 an hour.
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| Graphite, on tan wove paper, laid down on commercially prepared ivory wove card (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
While standing, one
alternates load on legs; muscles of thigh, back and abdomen also work
to maintain a straight posture; consume calories. On the contrary,
sitting may cause some stagnation in blood circulation.
This can be achieved
by holding
stand-up meetings, coffees or lunches or set aside a certain
amount of time to work standing up.
Standing while you
are working may seem rather odd, but it is a practice with a long
tradition. Winston Churchill wrote while working at a special
standing desk, as did Ernest Hemingway and Benjamin Franklin.
The evidence that
standing up is good for you goes back to at least the 1950s when a
study was done comparing bus conductors (who stand) with bus drivers
(who don't). This study, published in the Lancet, showed that the bus
conductors had around half the risk of developing heart disease of
the bus drivers.
Prolonged sitting
has been associated with a high incidence of back complaints,
increased spinal intra-disc pressure build up, discomfort in the lower
extremities and increased muscle loading of the neck.
However, neither
static standing nor sitting is recommended. Each position has its
advantages and disadvantages. Research
indicates that constrained sitting or constrained standing are
risk factors and that alternating work postures may be preferable.
Alternation between two postures allows for increased rest intervals
of specific body parts, and reduced potential for risk factors
commonly associated with development of Musculo-skeletal disorder.
A
different set of studies suggests that simple inactivity by
itself may cause harm by altering the metabolism. It has been seen
that simple sitting decreases the level of Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL),
one of the critical enzymes that regulates the levels of
triglycerides and HDL (high-density lipoprotein, good cholesterol).
Level of triglycerides goes up and that of HDL goes down in such a
situation. This enzyme is located in muscle and adipose tissue. In a
decreased state, uptake of triglycerides decreases, that means, more
is available in circulation to do harm. After just a few hours of
inactivity, there occurs changes in the activity levels of over 100
genes.
It doesn’t matter,
if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If
you spend most of the rest of the day sitting — in your car, your
office chair, on your sofa at home — you are putting yourself at
increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of
cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether
you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.
Let us stand up and
work.
