How sit-stand desks can improve health and productivity

13 Jun 2019

The study of ergonomics in office furniture design has led to increasing awareness of how the way we work can affect our bodies. The most recent research in this area has found that sitting down for long periods can be harmful to our health.

An organisation called Get Britain Standing is trying to raise awareness of the problem amongst employers and employees, and encourage people to move more during the day. This could be as simple as walking round to a colleague’s desk to talk to them instead of sending an email, standing up when you’re on the phone, not eating at your desk etc.

By encouraging your staff to move more, you’re not only helping them to benefit their health, you’re also likely to see business benefits, including increased productivity and less absenteeism.

On the other hand, standing for long periods of time is also bad for you! An Australian study found that standing for two hours resulted in discomfort, reduction in reaction times and a deterioration in mental state. Which is why ergonomic furniture designers came up with the sit-stand desk.

The perfect compromise

Sit-stand desks allow each member of staff to control when they sit or stand in order to work. Sit-stand desks can be adjusted electronically to be at the perfect height for each user, whether they’re sitting or standing. They are easy to operate which means users can change position many times during the working day, alternating sitting and standing in order to keep themselves comfortable and healthy.

Users can even sync their desk to their phone via a bluetooth app which will give them friendly reminders to move throughout the day, as well as giving them the ability to change the desk height from their phones.

The desks come in a range of colours and finishes, and come with wire management and cable risers to help you keep all the wiring safely out of the way during desk adjustment.