The Importance of Standing Up For Your Health
durations routinely is bad for health as it poses various health risks such as
obesity, heart diseases, diabetes, and even premature mortality. The prime
reason for sitting being harmful for health is that sitting cuts out physical
activity. It therefore burns lesser energy and causes weight gain in the first
place which later gives rise to many conditions. This article discusses how
sitting is bad for health and why you should stand more often, how standing and
moving is beneficial for health and how you should include more ways into your
work schedule so that health and work both do not suffer.
Introduction
Standing up for something means raising your voice
in support of an idea, a person or the like, especially when it is not getting
the recognition it should. This is exactly what this article is about –
standing up for your health, literally as well as metaphorically. By standing
up it means sitting for less time. The time we spend sitting on our desks is
counted as sedentary i.e. no activity is done during that time. The more
sedentary a person has, the higher are his chances of developing diseases
affecting his whole body. The most obvious disorder is becoming overweight or even
obese, which in turn puts extra pressure on the joints, causing back pain and
arthritis; an extra load on the blood and the cardiovascular system, causing
heart disease and vascular disease. It has also been linked with illnesses such
as depression and memory loss.
Sitting is primarily a problem for the individuals
whose work is such that they have to sit at desks for all their work hours. It
becomes even worse if the sitting is in front of a computer because then in
addition to the above stated conditions the person also gets eye disorders,
postural deformities and even migraines. Sitting harms health in the following
ways:
- Musculo
– Skeletal Conditions : Sitting at a chair reduces blood
circulation in the legs, as it especially cuts it off at the knees where the
arteries are pressed against the chair. This gives rise to vascular conditions
in the lower legs. Lack of movement in the knees also causes them to lose some
functionality over time. At a desk the person’s arms and wrists also do not
move much, with only fingers doing most of the work and them eventually being
overused. The posture of a person sitting at a desk in front of a computer
screen is usually extremely poor, eventually causing diseases of the spine like
frozen shoulders and cervical immobility, backache in various sections of the
spine, etc. - Sensory
Conditions : the eyes of a person sitting in front of a computer
screen usually do not move much and constantly keep switching between bright
monitors and dull papers or black computer accessories. Thus the person is
likely to develop vision defects. - Metabolic
Conditions : sitting for 8-10 hours a day and eating, sipping tea
and having snacks on the desk itself makes the person eventually gain weight.
People doping such jobs get so soaked in their work that they forget moving
even while being seated at their desks. Usually the workspaces where such jobs
are done are separated by cabins and this further increases a person’s
likelihood to overeat, because there is no distraction from food. In such cases
the person develops many metabolic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, etc. - Cardiovascular
Conditions : keeping sitting for long durations not only
overloads the blood vessels with excess fat, glucose and cholesterol but also
makes the heart lazy since it doesn’t have to work hard for anything, it knows
that the person is not going to do any activity and the heart becomes lazy and
thus overworked. It leads to abnormal heart rate which itself can take the form
of many life threatening conditions of the heart. Reduced blood circulation in
the legs puts the individual at the risk of developing vascular diseases such
as deep vein thrombosis and blood pooling. - Mental
And Nervous Disorders : being glued to a heap of files or a
computer screen inside a boxy cabin poses threat to mental and nervous health
of an individual. People having to work in such circumstances may develop
frustration, stress, anxiety, anger management issues, tension, lack of
expression and understanding, and even depression, Alzheimer’s disease and
memory loss.
The Benefits of Standing Up
On the other hand, standing up and moving a little
in between working hours is a great way to avoid many diseases. By standing up
and taking little breaks you can also get the following benefits:
- You
can avoid excess weight gain: weight is gained when calories consumed are more
than calories burnt. Our body burns calories even when we are not doing
anything. But, that’s not enough to balance all the calories we gain from the
foods we eat. If you stand up for short durations during work and take small
steps around the disk itself, you can burn additional calories. - You can avoid
sugar spikes: after we eat anything or consume our blood sugar levels rise
instantly. When we sit in
a chair all day and have our tea, lunch and even
snacks at the same seat, our blood glucose or sugar level spikes are not
resolved as they could if we were moving a little here and there. In fact, we
suggest that to keep blood sugar spikes in check, one should keep alternating from
standing to sitting after every few minutes to maintain physical activity. - You can
prevent heart diseases: the heart works hard when we stand or move. People who
do standing jobs such as chefs, waiters, bus conductors, school teachers,
cleaners and gardeners, and the like, have a lesser susceptibility to
developing heart diseases. - You can avoid
back pain: while sitting in a chair we are more likely to hunch our backs and
strain our necks. Prolonged sitting puts the spine in a bad position which in
turn causes back pain that becomes chronic. Standing up increases one’s
consciousness and improves posture. It can help reduce chronic back pain in the
long term and even prevent it altogether. - You can avoid
stress and anxiety: while sticking to one seat a person is not able to manage a
lot of work because the overall energy level of a person is the least while
sitting and working. Standing up for work can greatly improve one’s
mood and the willingness to finish tasks. - You can be
more productive: standing up while working or during breaks can break laziness
and monotony. It can also increase alertness and prevent afternoon drowsiness.
Improved alertness means lesser errors and better quality of work. Thus overall
productivity can be improved if some work is done while standing up. - You may live longer: sedentary lifestyle, or
particularly sedentary working hours put you at the risk of all the conditions
that are mentioned above. By standing up you can not only avoid these but you
may also live longer – and healthier.
How To Increase Standing During The
Day
Give
the following tips a try to include some physical movement in your routine, and
also eliminate factors contributing to development of diseases, especially at
work:
- Use
a standing desk. A standing desk is a table of suitable height where you can
stand for small durations and work easily. - Drink enough
water. It will keep you hydrated and keep blood circulation normal. - Keep gently
stretching your body parts in between. - Bring healthy
tiffin to work. - During lunch
break try to get off your seat for at least ten minutes a day. - Use the stairs
in the office and not the lift. - Wash your eyes
in between. - Maintain a
suitable distance from the desk and the computer screen - Take care of
your posture while working - Try to let in
more natural light in the room - Do not over
consume tea or coffee at work - Discard faulty
hardware which needs extra force to be operated - Use a
comfortable chair which has a suitable back and height compared to the level of
the computer screen or the desktop - Try to walk in between hours.
Conclusion
Sitting for long hours is a threat to health in many
respects. We suggest everyone in such a job that requires them to sit at a desk
and a chair for long hours, take these conditions seriously and include some level
of activity in their working hours so that not only the calorific consumption
is normalized but also eye strain and migraine can also be avoided. Standing up
can also be beneficial as a break from the sitting as it changes the angle of
the viewer from the screen and also improves blood circulation in the legs
which were not getting enough blood circulation while sitting at a chair.
Standing up and moving a little here and there at regular intervals is
therefore highly recommended.
