We all have weeks where it seems like work is killing us. But did you know that sitting down too much really can contribute to an early death? According to a surfeit of recent information extended amounts of sitting can be as deadly as smoking. While studies have long linked sedentary behavior to health hazards such as diabetes obesity and heart disease doctors originally thought these hazards could be avoided by exercising more frequently. However new research indicates that exercise alone cannot curtail the dangers of sitting.
In a TIME magazine article entitled "Sitting Is Killing You" writer Alice Park surmised "Swapping an hour on the couch for an hour playing catch wouldn't cut it. A recent review of 43 studies analyzing daily activity and cancer rates found that people who reported sitting for more hours of the day had a 24% greater risk of developing colon cancer a 32% higher risk of endometrial cancer and a 21% higher risk of lung cancer...in other words sitting was chipping away at some of the benefits of exercise." It's not enough to merely exercise more; in order to negate the dangers of sitting we must sit less.
Dr. James Levine director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative believes that there must be a fundamental paradigm shift. He believes one of the main problems in 21st century society is that we automatically believe people should sit wherever they go whether at work the movies or on the bus. "By simply changing your work style from a chair-based work style to a standing one you can burn 500 to 1000 extra calories a day" he notes. This realization is what led Dr. Levine to create the original treadmill desk. Standing desks have been proven to have benefits not only for office workers but also for students! "What we need to do is change the default" Dr. Levine notes. "I want us to have to find excuses to be sitting down." In a perfect world he adds standing could become the new sitting.
At UpDesk we firmly believe in the importance of standing. That's why we are so passionate about our height adjustable desks. Our standing desks allow you to easily switch from sitting to standing in order to get the maximum health benefits each day. Contact us today or visit our website to learn more about our stand up desks!
