If you ever peruse the web, you may have seen some hoo-ha in recent years about how bad squatting over a desk all day is for you. Simply taking a seat at your desk can be to blame for heart problems, diabetes and obesity, if you are to believe the reports. If you're honest with yourself, when you're sat at work in your office job, how much exercise do you think you get? How many times do you get up and move around?
I thought long and hard about this, with rather depressing results. A small office space that's easy to holler across, email, and a virtually paper-free environment means that I barely make it out of my seat in a day - everything I need is literally within arms length. The only time I get up is to get food, drink, or to go to the loo.
Health guidelines suggest that 150 minutes of exercise should be carried out a week. But if we're honest, does that ever really happen? Things come up - working late, tiredness, a Friends marathon on Comedy Central. And then the other part of the day, we're glued to our desks, sat in our comfy office chair with its foamy seat, spongy armrests and springy back. But now, there's a new desk on the market that could shake up the way we work completely.
About a month ago, I was sent a Varidesk - a standing desk that promises to help decrease neck and lower back pain, lower blood pressure and - possibly my favourite feature - burn up to 52,000 calories per year when used on a daily basis. The health benefits sound amazing for just having to stand whilst you type for a period of time everyday. But would it really be that easy?
Speaking of easy, the set-up of this bad boy was an absolute dream. The box it came in was huge and daunting, and I dreaded unpacking it in case I would have to acquire a screwdriver and put it together myself. But it required no putting together - it simply pulled out of the packaging and then was ready to plonk on my desk. For someone who is practically allergic to any handy work, this desk was my kind of DIY - which is to say it required no effort whatsoever.
Whilst the desk may seem expensive - £335.00 for one - it is actually a fairly good price in terms of the standing desk market. You'd be surprised how much these go for, and for something that is so large yet compact enough to fit on a desk, with two tiers and a smooth design that makes it incredibly easy to put it up and down, it's a pretty good deal.
So does this desk have health benefits? Yes, I believe it does. A stretch of the legs feels great after an afternoon sitting with pins and needles in places you didn't know were possible. Plus, as someone who suffers from a curved spine and thus a constant bad back, the desk did help to relieve the pressure somewhat.
It's probably important to say that the results I saw went hand in hand with having an active lifestyle outside of the office, and can also be dependent on how much you use your stand-up desk: if you use it all day, every day then you will see different results than if you use it for a couple of hours in the mornings. For those with back pain, standing at the desk will feel uncomfortable at first, but like with any exercise, it is something you must get used to, and then it begins to become a welcome part of your day. All I know is this: if you use this standing desk, you're going to see a positive result.
Plus, standing up in the office, overseeing your empire of people, kinda makes you feel like a BOSS.
Do you have a standing desk? What do you think? Let us know! @sofeminineUK
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