Many companies depend on legions of knowledge workers whose jobs entail sitting at a desk for hours on end, typing on a keyboard, speaking on a telephone, or some similar task. Everyone accepts that this sedentary lifestyle is not optimal for good health, but what are the alternatives? As it turns out, you have a number of options when considering how to furnish the workspace for these employees.
Coping with Sitting
One common way to address the problem is to compensate by providing alternative activities. Smaller companies may subsidize or even pay the membership fees for employees to join a health club. Larger companies often provide exercise facilities onsite to make them easier for employees to access, such as during lunch breaks.
The fact remains, however, that these workers spend the bulk of their day sitting in a chair. Even if you provide the ultimate in ergonomic design – some chairs can cost more than a typical monthly mortgage payment – it is still a chair and the employee will be sitting.
Some researchers believe that sitting is hazardous to our health, and may become viewed as "the new smoking" when it comes to workplace health risks. In "Your Chair: Comfortable but Deadly" [Link:http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/59/11/2715.full], Dr. James Levine of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic cites research that links sitting to "cardiovascular disease, metabolic sequelae (pathological conditions from disease or injury), excess weight, and shorter life span." He also mentions negative psychological and psychosocial effects that can be attributed to "chair-dependency."
Exercise at other times during the day may not be sufficient to counteract these negative effects. Elizabeth Joy at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center is a sports medicine physician. She states that "research has shown that even 30 to 60 minutes of jogging a day won't undo eight hours of sitting." [Source: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-fitness/2010/10/27/6-fitness-splurges-worth-the-money]
According to Levine and other researchers, the answer is simple; knowledge workers need to get off their seats and onto their feet.
Stand Up for Health
One solution is to simply raise the height of the work surface so that knowledge workers can stand as they work. According to some sources, you burn as much as 50% more calories standing as you would if you were doing the same tasks while sitting. For a typical person who weighs 155 pounds, this translates to the difference between 100 calories an hour for sitting and 150 calories per hour for standing. [Source: http://www.kcby.com/news/health/13565082.html] Over a 40-hour work week, this adds up to an additional 2,000 calories consumed. Based on the general assumption that it takes 3,500 calories to lose a pound of weight, you could lose more than two pounds a month if you keep your diet constant.
Standing also provides more of a workout for your heart and other systems, which can help keep these in better shape as well.
It is not difficult to get out of your chair. Most office furniture makers provide standing desks as an option. They can have all the same features and style choices as standard desks designed for sitting. If you're not sure that you want to commit to a standing work environment (for yourself or your employees), choose adjustable desks that use an electric motor to lower the work surface for sitting and raise it for standing. These designs offer the added advantage of quickly adjusting to the ideal height for any worker. This can be of extra benefit for offices that work in a team setting or where employees share workspace. Instead of having to readjust those expensive ergonomic chairs, they can simply adjust the desk height for an optimal experience.
Start Walking
If standing is better than sitting, then it stands to reason that walking is better than standing. In fact, research indicates that instead of burning 100 calories per hour while sitting, a typical 155 pound person will burn 200 calories per hour – twice as much – simply by walking slowly. At about 1 mph, the average person will not break a sweat or experience a significant change in heart beat rate. [Source: http://www.kcby.com/news/health/13565082.html]
If there were a way for the average knowledge worker to walk while conducting business, the added exercise could result in weight loss of a pound a week. At first blush, this may not seem practical, but solutions are available.
The answer is a "treadmill desk" which starts with a standing desk and then places a treadmill mechanism underneath it. In most cases, the treadmill does not go any faster than 2 mph, as it is not intended for the same jogging or running usage that you would get from a health club treadmill. The mechanism is very quiet, and cannot be heard even when the user is talking on the phone. And the treadmills often have a padded surface to make it more comfortable to stroll on over extended periods.
While some people may find this to be a bit of an extreme solution, treadmill desks are in fact available from major office furniture manufacturers such as Steelcase which offers the Walkstation [http://store.steelcase.com/products/walkstation/], and Signature Treadmill Desks (www.treadmilldeskinc.com). They are styled so to fit in with other office furnishings, much more so than the inflatable eggs and other eccentric "ergonomic" chair designs. The desks are adjust to match individual worker's heights. Some models of treadmill desks can even be lowered to seating height or raised to standing height, so that workers can shift between sitting and standing throughout the day. There are also designs that can be used in conjunction with an existing treadmill.
In addition to burning more calories and the ancillary health benefits of the exercise, many users of treadmill desks report other gains (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiw-7-zY9iQ). They frequently report having more energy, better focus, and increased attention to their work. Many report that they don't get as sleepy as they tend to do while seated.
Taking the Next Steps
Investing in healthy furniture may not be as expensive as it might seem at first glance. Even treadmill desks can cost less than high-end ergonomic desk chairs. And it is possible that money spent on health club memberships or exercise equipment – that may be used infrequently by a minority of workers – could be better spent helping employees be more active during their workday. Just remind them to bring a pair of comfortable shoes to change into while they're at their workstation.
