The evidence is piling up: sitting down at work may lead to heart disease, diabetes and eventual death. According to scientists from Loughborough University, sitting down at work increases the likelihood of developing these conditions later in life.
The solution: to stand up at work. A growing number of workplaces across the UK are implementing innovative standing desks and enjoying a surprising increase in productivity from employees.
The health issues associated with long periods of sedentary work can’t simply be fixed by spending time running on a treadmill or lifting weights. In order to reduce the chance of developing heart disease and other serious health issues, people are advised to stand up for more time during the typical workday.
The recommendation is one of several recent health ideas that run counter to the conventional office wisdom. Exposure to natural light, long thought to make work more difficult, has been demonstrated to increase productivity. From sun exposure to physical activity, a surprising variety of behaviours can increase productivity.
At the General Electric manufacturing plant in Leicestershire, management believes that staff should be given a choice between sitting and standing. Jonathan McGregor, an engineer, claims that the company is “looking at bringing in standing desks.” If it does, GE will join hundreds of other UK companies currently using standing desks.
Google’s London office has an undisclosed number of the desks, believed to reach the hundreds by experts. Other high-tech firms have followed suit, avoiding what was once thought of as the office standard: rows of desks and chairs aligned in the arrangement that used as little floor space as possible.
Jeremy Myerson, a Royal College of Art professor, believes that the modern office’s concept of productivity and order is a recent innovation. He believes that Victorian era clerks enjoyed more movement during their workday than modern employees, and that the industrial office may be looked on as an “aberration” in the future.
In the meantime, workers claim that standing desks offers benefits beyond better health. BBC Radio 1Xtra presenter Trevor Nelson, a standing desk user, claims that he feels “more aware” and “sharper” when he stands up to present his show.
