7 health benefits of standing!

Do you ever realize you are sitting too much at work or home? Sitting all day long in the same position brings negative effects to your body! Our bodies were not designed to be sitting all day long. You must want to know the health benefits of standing! Say no to prolonged sitting and get your standing desk right away!

Here are 7 health benefits of standing: 

1. Reduce risk of weight gain and obesity

Sedentary lifestyle, which you spend most of your time sitting, will definitely lead to weight gain and obesity, however, your body will be able to burn more calories when you are standing. In reference to a recent study by the Mayo Clinic, standing for more than 6 hours throughout the day significantly decrease probability  of obesity in both men and women. For men who stood up for at least 6 hours per day had 59% reduced likelihood of obesity; for women who stand for at least 6 hours a day will be linked to 35% reduce chance of obesity.

2. Lower heart disease risk

If you stand instead of sitting all the time, this lowers blood sugar and cholesterol, keeps weight off, and thus decrease your risk for heart disease! Standing for an extra 2 hours a day was associate with a 2% lower average fasting blood sugar level in both men and women, and 11% lower average level of fat! Every 2 hours spending sitting each day will lead to increased weight and waist size and increased levels of blood sugar and bad cholesterol. It is not rare to see beer belly on office workers! 

3. Lower risk of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases

According to the American Diabetes Association, if you try to break up your time of prolonged sitting by standing on a regular basis, for example, alternate between standing and sitting for every hour, it can help reduce blood sugar levels by 34%. For women, compared to prolonged sitting, both standing or walking help reduce postprandial glucose and insulin levels in women who are at a high risk of type 2 diabetes. 

4. Increase life expectancy

A research about impact of sitting and television viewing on life expectancy in the U.S., shows that there is two years estimated gains in life expectancy in the US population for reducing excessive sitting to less than 3 hours a day, and a gain of 1.38 years from reducing excessive television viewing to less than 2 hours a day. 

5. Reduce risk of cancer

Almost 50,00 cases of breast cancer and over 40,000 cases of colon cancer each year are indeed caused by inactivity (American Institute for Cancer Research). Standing up helps your circulation moving and reduce cancer risk. Do you still sit all day long when you know prolonged sitting is one of the largest cancer risk factors?

6. No more chronic back pain

A Stanford University back pain study shows that workers who used sit-stand desks instead of regular desks at work, were more likely to report a pain-free day. The study found that participants who were given standing workstation reported to have a significant reduction in both their current and worse lower back pain over the three month period of using the sit-stand workstation. 

7. Help increase energy levels and improve productivity

Workers who use standing desks report less stress and fatigue than those who do not, standing while working improves collaboration and encourage creativity. The study shows that users of standing desks were about 45% more productive each day compared to their seated colleagues. Productivity of the standing desks users significantly increased over time, from about 23% in the first month to about 53% over the next six months.

Check out our best standing desks for better health now!

Source: https://www.developgoodhabits.com/standing-vs-sitting/