Osmond Ergonomics has been in the healthy office industry for over 25 years so you can trust our answer to this question.

So you’ve heard about sit-stand desks and you’ve wondered; 

‘Why would anyone buy a sit-stand desk?’

Sit stand desks are part of a wider healthy workplace strategy that promotes physical and psychological wellness as part of a healthy lifestyle. Suitable for both a work and home office, sit-stand desks are for everyone.

Find out 5 tangible benefits of using sit-stand desks and more below! 

The (real) Benefits of Sit-Stand Desks 

Standing desks are just one part of the healthy workplace ethos that promotes collaboration, physical wellbeing, psychological wellbeing and communication in the workspace whilst keeping bodies and minds active.

Humans have been adapting for millennia, but we never adapted to sit at a desk for 8 hours per day. We are active, social creatures in both body and mind.

 

5 benefits of using a sit-stand desk 

• Allows for a balance between sitting and standing at your desk
• As part of a healthy workplace initiative, gives your staff more natural energy
• Creates a culture of care for employee health
• Promotes an active lifestyle
• More practical for some tasks such as teaching, sales, phone calls, short meetings and discussing screen content with a colleague.

9 examples of sit-stand desk usage 

1. Technology Companies

Tech companies are the first category to come to mind. With modern offices and many tech startups, sit-stand desks are being embraced by those offices looking to attract fresh talent and ideas with an edge on their workspace options.

2. Hot Desk Environments

Sit stand desks work as amazing hot desks due to their flexibility. Sitting is best for some tasks but a standing desk that gets used by multiple colleagues will fit all sizes, sitting or standing.

3. Call Centres & Sales

It is known that when you stand on a call, you’re more alert, actively listening and you feel more assertive. Choose to sit or stand depending on the direction you want to go on the call.

4. Design Agencies

Illustrators and artists sit down a LOT. Standing every now and again can give you a different perspective on your work and open up new creative doors.

5. Digital Agencies

By nature, digital agencies require a lot of collaboration. You’re creating fast moving applications and software for even faster moving markets. It’s important for everyone in the office to be alert, mobile and collaboration is key between developers, designers, copywriters and marketers.

6. Financial Sector

Finance can be seen as a dry area but it really isn’t. Many fintech companies and bigger dogs in the industry, such as Credit Suisse, have embraced sit-stand desks as part of an open plan office design to encourage better collaboration.

7. Music Production

People move to music. DJs dance, performers never sit down when they play so why would they want to sit all day in the studio? Sit stand desks are ideal for music production studios. Stand at your desk, wear your instrument and move around your musical cockpit with ease.

8. Education

Teachers stand up more than they sit down. Ever seen your teachers bending down to change the slides on their laptop or to check paperwork at their desks? All the time. Sit stand desks should be at the front of every classroom.

9. Software Development

Those who develop software are very creative people who actually love to stand sometimes whilst working on their code. Similar to the design agencies, coders need to change up their posture sometimes and it can give them a creative and collaborative edge. 

Sit Stand Claims That Need Further Research 

There has been a lot of sensationalism in the coverage of standing in the workplace.

Standing desks...

1. Promote weight loss
2. Reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease
3. Reduce the risk of diabetes
4. Reduce the risk of cancer
5. Reduce the risk of premature death

Reporting of these claims is often over-sensationalised. You may have seen the slogans about 'Sitting is the new smoking'. A strong body of evidence is growing but we are cautious about bold claims and believe more longitudinal research with larger sample populations is required.

More Sit Stand Information 

We wrote a blog a few months back that explains the sit-stand sensationalism & gave you the hard facts about how standing up at your desk got media coverage.

Here’s the story broken down for you and here is the article if you fancy reading it (but we like to save you time)

• A study with a 800,000 participants found a link with sitting all day and various negative health connotations such as diabetes & cardiovascular disease.
• An article was written on the BJSM website which drew attention to the issue and made claims that people should stand 2 to 4 hours per day
• Viral articles with the tagline, ‘sitting is the new smoking’ were written.

A lot of news outlets picked up on it, published it and led to people all asking the following question:

 

How long should you stand at your desk? 

Numerical Answer: A good start would be to stand for 5 in every 30 minutes, but every journal you read will tell you a different number.

Best Answer: Sitting and standing is a small part of a larger equation. Joan Vernikos, formerly of NASA recommends triggering your gravity muscles often. It’s not about how long you stand for, but a subtle change in lifestyle that includes standing more often.

Imagine going to the gym. Do you think you would achieve more doing:

a) 10 minutes, 7 days per week? 
b) 70 minutes, once per week?

It’s always better to introduce and maintain something little and often, then scale up as you see fit. 

FAQs

How can I make my workspace healthier? 

1. Consider standing and/or walking meetings
2. Design your office with sit-stand desks
3. Encourage stair usage
4. Start to integrate movement in your work day
5. Use office facilities that involve a longer walk from your desk
6. Take advantage of the fact that moving around standing is easier than sitting
7. Speak to Osmond Ergonomics to find out more without a sales pitch

 

How do I use a sit-stand desk?

 

Start with short periods of standing once per 30 minutes, don’t let it break your focus if you’re in the zone and sit back down if you feel uncomfortable. Adjust as you see fit and integrate this regular standing into better posture. 

Try putting a sit-stand desk on the end of your rows of desks as hot desks where people can hold impromptu internal meetings or collaborate on something without using a meeting room.

Can a sit-stand desk help me lose weight? 

Technically, yes but the actual benefit is tiny. A 65 kilo person could burn around 50 calories standing for 6 hours (dependent on all the other extraneous variables). As you can see by the low numbers, it is one part of a larger behavioural change.

What kind of sit-stand desks exist? 

1. Electric Motorised
2. Mechanical
3. Fixed Height
4. Treadmill Desks
5. Standard Desk Add-Ons or 'Converters'

 

Electric powered desks are efficient, save time with height memory and used to cost a huge amount of money. However now they have become very affordable!