One of the most detrimental things to your health can be an office job. Not because of stress or constant eating out, but because of your desk. Most desks at office jobs are provided by your employer, the desks may be too short or too tall; your chair too soft or too hard. Since you are sitting in that chair at that desk, 40+ hours a week, the added up hours can negatively affect your health. Being too sedentary in general is bad for your muscles and joints, as well as your weight. Sitting for more than three hours per day can shave your life expectancy by two years, even if you are healthy overall.
It may sound like there is no solution, but that isn’t the case. A new market for “Smart Desks” is here to rescue your sedentary work life. A smart desk is a desk that can change from a sitting desk, to a standing desk in the matter of seconds. There are many different types of desks and accessories that are designed to get you up and moving throughout the day.
Desk designs vary from hand cranks and monitor boxes, to electronic tables that move automatically to sitting and standing throughout the day. Some of the higher end desks can be more expensive (around $4,000) but in one workers tests, these desks got a standing ovation-literally.
The most expensive of the desks is the Stir Kinetic Desk F1 that includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a thermal sensor on the underside of the desk that tracks your activity. The desk moves itself up and down every few hours without disturbing your work environment. The cheapest version of the StandStand which you just place on top of your desk that you can manually move up and down.
To learn more, check out Jennifer Jolly’s review of tons of different “Smart Desks” and see which one might work the best for you. Meanwhile, remember that keeping active throughout your day is important. Remember to take stretching breaks and walk as much as you can throughout the day. If you spend over 80% of your day sitting, try to make a change in your daily routines in order to optimize your health.
Resources:
http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000828.full
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/smart-desks-to-keep-you-moving/?ref=health&_r=2