Stand Working – Health Benefits And Rules To Follow

A recent  study by American Cancer Society has revealed that sitting for long hours increases death risk. The study also revealed that extended periods of sitting down increases risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and obesity. A simple solution for this is –  Stand Working. 

Working while standing is a very healthy habit. It may be the solution to many health problems of people with a sedentary lifestyle. Stand work station is the need of the hour for most of the professionals. While housewives, teachers, lecturers, ticket collectors, etc need to stand while working, many others have to make themselves stand to enjoy a set of health benefits. Let us explore, what are its benefits, how to adopt it, what careful measures are needed and who should not try it.

Health benefits

Health benefits of stand workstation – 
Consider a simple work, like reading a newspaper. If you are sitting and reading a newspaper, you would burn around 80 – 100 calories of energy in one hour. That means, you have used energy out of 6 teaspoons of sugar.

If you are reading newspaper for one hour, while standing, you would burn around 175 – 200 calories of energy. That means you have used energy out of 12 teaspoons of sugar.

• Reading news paper for one hour – sitting – 80 – 100 calories = 6 teaspoon sugar.
• Reading news paper for one hour – standing – 175 – 200 calories = 12 teaspoons of sugar. 

So obviously if you do the work while standing, you will be burning calories at double the speed.

More calories burnt, quicker weight reduction, better heart health and a fitter body.

On an average, if you are standing for about 3 hours a day, you would be burning calories equaling 1 hour of gym exercise.

Other benefits – 

• Back pain remedy – Less pressure on the back, as weights are uniformly distributed between the two legs.
• Good for heart.
• Good for cholesterol control.
• Best substitute to gym.
• It also helps people with fistula or piles.

How to adopt this method?

How to adopt working while standing? 

• If you have your own office, you can have another desk having its height of your chest level.
• There are custom made stand up workstations available in the market.
• Those who can not afford, can devote  specific works to be done while standing. For example,whenever you receive a phone call, try to stand up. Whenever you are reading, stand up.

Contraindicated persons

Who should not try stand working? 

• People with kidney and heart problems.
• People having pedal edema, sore feet, swelling, knee pain.
• People who feel dizzy.
• People with arthritis, injury, ankle pain, corns.
• People with varicose veins.
• People with Vata body type

Time duration

How long can one do stand working? 

As a general rule, 3 hours per day, with 2 – 3 intervals of 10 minutes.

Precautions

•  Oil massage  to the knee, ankle or full length of leg once or twice a week, before bath, is a must.
• At least apply a little oil and rub it over knee, ankle, thigh and calf muscle.
• Shift weights between legs occasionally
• Keep the spine and back erect.
• Do not bend forward
• Crepe bandage for legs is advisable.
• Table should be at the chest level, so that hands lie comfortably over the table.