Stand Up for Good Health

If your mother was anything like my mother, when I was a kid watching television, she was always chiding me to "sit up straight." Then it seemed like it was good healthful advice. Turns out mothers were wrong. We shouldn't be sitting at all. Recent research cited in The New York Times suggests that we should be standing, not sitting, when working on our computers or at our work desk or cubicle.

Reporting on two studies in the The British Journal of Sports Medicine and Diabetogia, the Times article, Taking a Stand for Office Ergonomics, quotes Dr. Toni Yancey, a professor of health services at UCLA,  as saying, "we believe that sitting is harmful in itself." According to the article, sitting at your computer for an extended period of time (over an hour or so) can significantly reduce the number of fat burning enzymes and can also lower the amount of good (HDL) cholesterol in the blood. It may even contribute to diabetes and heart disease.

So, what is the solution?  One answer is standing while working.  This usually involves some form of stand-up desk.  There are many models for sale ranging from a few hundred dollars to thousands. There are even under the desk treadmills and stationary cycles that you can pedal while seated. An easier (and cheaper) solution is to put your laptop on a bookcase and work from that. I have tried it and it works quite well. I suggest you give it a try and let me know if it works for you.