If you get a standing desk, it’s because you care about your health and comfort. You’ve read the studies about how sitting too much is bad for your health: There are a number of increased health risks like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and early death. But if you stand all day at your standing desk you may not be getting all of the health benefits that you thought you would. In fact you may be getting new problems.
What Happens When You Stand Too Long
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they switch to a standing desk is they stand all day. Not only do they stand all day, but they attempt standing all day immediately. This is one of the reasons people experience discomfort and go back to sitting, claiming that working at a standing desk is too hard.
Swollen Feet: Standing for long periods of time can make your feet swell, and if you aren’t in the right shoes, it can be even worse. Standing puts more of a strain on your legs and feet.
Muscle Discomfort: If you jump right to “too much standing” without a transition period, you could get sore muscles and swollen feet. Remember instead of sitting, you are using muscles that would normally be dormant, and hours of sitting switched to hours of standing could be a huge shock to your system.
Spinal Shrinkage: Standing for too long has been shown to shrink the spine. In a study, they found that people who stood experienced more spinal shrinkage when compared to people who switched between sitting and standing.
Varicose Veins: In a 12-year study, they found that prolonged standing at work resulted in a higher risk of being hospitalized for varicose veins. It turned out that out of all of the cases, a fifth of them were for people who were “working age.”
Circulatory System Strain: Standing requires around 20% more energy than sitting and it puts greater pressure on the circulatory system. This can make standers more tired as well as it “increases the progression of carotid atherosclerosis” in men with ischemic heart disease.
For all of these reasons and more, a height adjustable desk is the way to go. With a stationary standing desk, or a DIY standing desk, it isn’t easy to adjust back to a sitting position (if you can at all). With a Xdesk standing desk or the Xdesk CrossOver standing desk converter, you can switch between sitting and standing with the press of a button. So you can enjoy all of the benefits of a standing desk without the negative side effects from being forced to stand all day.
