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CDC.gov, Preventing Chronic Disease
Sit-stand devices used in the Take-a-Stand Project in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2011.
The Take-a-Stand Project was a partnership with a sit-stand device manufacturer, Ergotron, Inc, Eagan, Minnesota.
Office workers who spent an hour or so a day at stand-up workstations felt more energized, productive and even happier, researchers reported on Thursday. And if they keep it up, they may help reduce the damage done by sitting at a desk all day.
Study after study has shown that sitting all day long is bad for you. People risk developing lower back problems, kidney disease, heart disease and other ills – even if they exercise outside of work.
“If you go out for a 30 minute run , and then sit for eight hours at work, you could still have health problems because you are sitting all day,” said Nicolaas Pronk, a vice president at Minnesota-based HealthPartners, a non-profit health care organization that provides clinics, health insurance and does health care research.
Pronk decided to test special workstations on the organization’s employees.
They recruited 34 volunteers to test some of the commercial workstations on the market that allow users to sit or stand, as they like, without having to move all their stuff. They tried models made by Ergotron, Inc. of Eagan, Minnesota.
“There are different devices out there. The ones we tested, you clamp them onto the desk. It has a keyboard tray and you push up or push down as you want to sit or stand,” Pronk said. “Ergotron is located in the same town as we are. So we partnered with them.”
The question is, will people use them and if they do, do they stand up for enough of their days to make a difference. And if so, how does that affect them?
Over seven weeks, 10 workers stayed at their usual desks, while 24 used the new workstations, Pronk and colleagues report in this week’s issue of the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.
To be scientific, Pronk’s team checked in with workers several times a day to see whether they were standing or sitting and to see how they felt. “We provided all participants a prepaid cellular telephone and sent text messages at three random times throughout the course of the work day. Immediately upon receiving a text message, participants responded to the question, ‘Tell us what you are doing right now: sitting, standing, or walking?’ by using 0, 1, or 2 for sitting, standing, or walking, respectively,” the researchers wrote.
They also surveyed the workers more thoroughly three times during the study, once at the end of the seven weeks.
People really liked them, Pronk said. “People felt happier. They felt more confident. They were more productive. Across the board, the feedback was very positive.”
The workers who used the devices were lavish in their praise – 87 percent felt more comfortable, 87 percent felt energized, 75 percent felt healthier, 71 percent felt more focused, 66 percent felt more productive, 62 percent felt happier, and 33 percent felt less stressed.
“Not a single person in the intervention group indicated that they did not like the device,” Pronk said. In fact, HealthPartners now offers them to all employees. “Around 30 percent have them. There are about 2,000 people today who have one at their station,” Pronk said.
People sat, on average just over an hour less every day. While standing didn’t help lower back pain, it reduced upper back and neck pain by 54 percent, Pronk found.
Research is piling in that that shows just the act of sitting most of the day can cut years off your life. Researchers reported in July that cutting the time that people spend sitting to less than three hours would increase the U.S. life expectancy by two years. And reducing the time spent watching TV to less than 2 hours daily would increase life expectancy by 1.4 years.
Last month, British researchers found that people who spent the least amount of time sitting were also the least likely to have chronic kidney disease.
Pronk is himself sold on the idea. “I don’t think this is a fad. It’s a new way of doing your work,” he said. He uses one now. “I probably stand about 80 percent of the time when I am in my office. I leave it up when I leave at night so it’s up when I come in in the morning,” Pronk said.
Part of the appeal may be that employees can control the device themselves. “You literally can push this device up with your hand and you can stand up,” he said.
“It has an impact on their work while they at work. The fact is that sedentary job tasks will end up making people sit for such long periods of time that it truly, literally, affects their longevity, so this is a very important area of intervention. The entire work force can go home more energetic and energized than they came in in the morning. That makes a huge difference from a work-life balance perspective.”
Related links:
- Less sitting would add two years to Americans' lives
- All that sitting is killing you
- Stand up, for the sake of your kidneys
Leave a Comment:
I like this idea, maybe it will reduce obesity in the workforce. Maybe the Federal Government will invest in this for there employees. My job is computer job, I sit a majority of the the day. Lucky for me I am discipline enough to excercise before I go to work, and eat right, where I do not have a weight or health issue. But alot of my co-workers are not so lucky. Our jobs are very sedentary and quite of few of them are obese. This would sure help out alot of people with there weight and health issues, if the Budget would allow it. I also think that when you are healthy you are more productive in the work force. Just a thought.
Another thing that helps me, and perhaps others if they have this option, is saving things you have to read, leaving the desk a bit early and going to the gym. I use the elliptical machine (without the hands). The little tray on the keypad keeps it steady. It is tempting to turn on the TV but you just use discipline. I even have a little white noise machine to block out the noise, or sometimes, an MP3 player.
Of course nothing beats "normal" exercise but this is better than nothing. And, after I get off the machine, I can do the weight machines the regular way. I super set so I don't sit around between sets e.g. pecs, outer thigh, back to chest...I've done this for many years-decades, actually, and it keeps me strong. It amazes me that I can do all this but if I sit too long, everything hurts and I feel old and worn out!
Sounds like a preemptive strike for the company man.
Going to be some lawsuits over this one....boss man made me stand up and do my work.
How about Truck Drivers in a seat for Ten to Twelve hours a day Six days a week. Bus drivers? Amtrac train enginers. Etc. Etc. How are they going to stand and do their jobs? I think the companies who did this survey are trying to get people to quit their jobs so they can send the jobs overseas to our ALLY China.
That's easy - they usually get some of the best seats money can buy. These seats usually cost $1,000 or higher per unit, with built in shock absorbers, seat pad length adjustment, height adjustment and lumbar adjustment. That's the cheap model.
The expensive model is here -
http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/bose_ride_system/index.jsp
You don't want to know what it costs. That's why they don't have a price on it. I got to demo one, all I can say is...wow
When I sat at a desk I hated it. That is why I was always catching hell for going for a walk. But I had to stretch.
This idea is fine as long as you get an adjustable desk - I worked for a mid-size computer manufacturer before that thought a stand-up desk was the best thing possible for factory workers. Not for office staff, supervisors, or anyone paid a salary, of course. The desks were not adjustable in any way, I usually wound up with an incredible back ache when I had to work on the desk itself (swapping motherboards, computer parts, etc)
Can you imagine most companies shelling out the money for the fancy adjustable model? Nope, they'll put in a one size fits all table and you'll use it or find a new job.
Another example of MSNBC sensationalized journalism. They completely change the description of the article from -workers like a computer stand, - to workers like standing. I believe it is just another attempt to increase readership, despite the case that the words could obviously be mis-construed and workers lives made more miserable. I suugest that MSNBC jounalists get out of their chairs and type standing for three hours at a time, before they twist titles to say -workers like standing.
There aren't very many of this type of job anymore. Most everyone I know, that works in this "New Job Market", is in some Service Industry-type position. ALL of them complain, that they are commanded to be ON THEIR FEET, all day, every day. None of them are allowed to sit down...not even for one minute. That's the biggest complaint I hear from everyone. A mixture would be good: a few hours sitting, a couple hours standing, but it's all or nothing, and most of it is STANDING ON YOUR FEET.
There is a flip side to this-many people would LOVE to have a chance to sit down, if just for a minute, while they work. At my "stand up all day" customer service job-the only time I get a chance to sit is when I go to the restroom. There is no "lunch break", I stand while eating and have to wait on customers if they come in. Benefits are also non-existent. But, hey, it beats being called lazy and collecting welfare.
We can find other reasons to hate you. Republicans are good at that. I'm sure you're part of the 47% who don't pay taxes. :)
I'm planning to get a TrekDesk as soon as I can afford one. I think it makes all the sense in the world to stay active while at my desk. As an author and copywriter, I sit too much!!! Within the year I WILL have a TrekDesk!!!
"I can't stand' sitting"!
I would rather die 1 year earlier than have foot pain from standing all of the time.
John Kenneth Gailbraith started this about a century ago. He was the first professional effeciency expert. As such he was both loved & hated by employers. Loved, because he found ways to maximize employee production, & hated because this established the "man/hour". That's the amount of work one person can be expected to accomplish in one hour. Worse, his mathematics proved the law of diminishing returns.
Depending on stress levels & physical exertion required, the average is about 8 hours per day, with a 5 day work week. When people work more than that, production actually begins to decline, & quality takes a nose dive. In order to increase production, employers have to hire more producers.
Imagine the horror for someone who has been taught that payroll is the company's biggest "expense".
The 34 volunteers were probably all employees of Ergotron and under 25 years old. Another nonsense article.
I really like the idea. While in college I did over 70% of my homework standing. Made for higher productivity and was a lot less tiring. I noticed the largest improvement while coding my programing. It was a lot easier for drawing the large complex flow charts too. I had a comfortable stool handy to take a break by sitting on. Worked out very well. During college there was a lot of stress to get so many things done because I was averaging 32 credit hours a term. I would not have been able to do it without my stand-up work station I set up. I started that in 1972 and earned 3 masters degrees, 1 from UofO, 2 from OSU. I attended 4 terms a year so there was no break to go camping and all the other things a lot of students did in the summer. It was worth it though. At the time I did not know I have PKD. I am sure if I had spent all the time sitting in a standard chair I would have been in trouble with my kidneys long ago. At the time it just seemed to be the logical thing to do to stand while doing hours upon hours work standing. It worked so well I was able to find time to code programs for other students and that helped me pay for college. I put myself through college with 3 children and a wife at home. I have to say had a lot of help from my wife. We did it as a team. So, standing for part of your work day does work and makes life a lot more enjoyable.
Yeah.....Good luck getting your employer to buy these
Oh they'll buy 'em allright. Cheaper than hiring employees to get the work done, & you don't have to go before the board of directors to explain why payroll "expenses" are up.
Got a stand/sit desk that I can raise/lower about a year ago and it's one of the best things I ever did in my life. I work 10-hour days at a large factory and probably stand for about 6-7 of those.
I requested it due to back pain (which was true). The safety engineer told my boss that I needed a doctor's note recommending it since that would be special desk and equipment (and they're not cheap). Luckily, we have an on-site clinic. So I made an appointment.
I told the doctor what I wanted, and she said "Let me get this straight. You want me to write you a note recommending that you stand up at work to help your back?" I said "yes." She said "No problem. Most people want time off for back problems. This one's easy."
You have to be careful though. Being that I'm a programmer in a factory, my boss told me "You're lucky the answer from management wasn't 'Oh, you want a job standing? We've got a job for you.'" How true.
Mobile desks which you roll and stand at are fine short periods of time but to stand all day becomes extremely hard on the back, feet, legs, knees, etc. I work in an Emergency Room (Very LARGE facility in Dallas, TX) that decided to start using them and took all the sit down desks away. Now think of pushing these over 100 pound carts around for 10.5 to 16 hours a day. They glide yes but the freedom the wheels have also make it hard to keep them in line to walk down the hall with. They move so freely that you cannot steer and as you have to move them from side to side it causes extreme pain in the back as if your being tugged on and your spine is in a bind. For example: When you go to the store and you have a grocery cart that keeps pulling to the side like an out of alignment car, you pull it back over constantly to keep going straight. With this problem as you pull it back over you start feeling a tugging sensation and strain in your back. These carts do the same thing, not to mention you don't have everything you need at it and still have to run back and forth to a desk to finish your work or use supplies, copiers, etc. Then not to mention that they don't have much space on top. I know our staff has more than double the amount of exhaustion than they did prior to its use. This has caused lots of burn out on the job, more call-ins, injuries, and many other health issues, etc. It is great to have for convenience when people cannot come to you or to go visit a patient but the long term effects from countless hours of standing has shown to be more harmful than good. I do not support this type of work station in any way. It has proven to be the worst yet long term. (We have had them many years and not cost effective.)
You don't know how lucky you are. Next you will be told to wear shape-ups ( shoes ) for more resistance.
Standing is too annoying. Walking feels more natural, I've found. I think you'd actually be more productive if you're walking compared with standing. It does take some time to get used to though. I've been at it for a few months and I can only go for about 2-3 hours a day.
www.treadmilldeskdiary.com
My last job was in Receiving Inspection. I got to walk , sit , and stand. I was the best part of the job, moving around. People should have the option. Even on a production line I have been able to sit or stand. One size doesn't fit all so they should not take away the option. And yes , I agree. Walking is better.
Being a professional artist, I was happy to see that an OPTION for standing OR sitting for non-artists, while working, was actually being discussed on mainstream media! Artists have always had the option, since the ERGONOMICS of designing or creating on a flat surface doesn't fit the sitting position too well.Sure we're kinda behind other countries, but now maybe this idea can take off! SO, I thought I'd glance through the comments for some possible-further-info as to other brands/styles/makeshift for keeping in mind.
AND WHAT DO I FIND?
Two or three Alpha-Baboon-Males leaping & drumming their chests, spurting insults at all who don't fall in with them (over several days, mind you); several very efficient and enlightened folks whose voices were continually drowned out by those involved in ongoing personal attacks; men heavily invested in putting women in their "place,"calling 'em bitches, complainers or dumb, while they themselves were constantly & stupidly complaining (again, over several days); and the naysayers, wanting us all to be as glumly pessimistic as themselves.
For those wonderful folks who took the time to give REAL feedback from your REAL lives: THANK YOU.
For the retro-humans: go find some woods where you can fight over who's going to be boss, who's gonna do all the work, and who's grooming whom for fleas. You'll love it ! No level heads to lower the exciting humm of conflict drenched in testosterone!