- BBC Sounds podcast investigates standing desks and their well being claims
- Consultants recommend alternating sitting and standing each half-hour with reminders
- Easy kitchen timers may help customers modify higher to take a seat–stand desk routines
The very best standing desks have turn out to be standard in places of work and residential workspaces, promoted as a strategy to cut back the well-reported well being dangers linked with lengthy hours of sitting.
Advocates say alternating between sitting and standing can ease again pressure, enhance posture, and encourage motion in the course of the day.
Within the Sliced Bread podcast, broadcaster Greg Foot investigates merchandise which promise to make us more healthy, happier, and greener (are they actually “one of the best factor since sliced bread”?) and in a brand new episode, out there on BBC Sounds, has turned his consideration to standing desks.
A easy little gadget
Within the episode, Foot talks to Professor of Lively Residing and Public Well being at Loughborough College, Stacy Clemes, and Dr Chris McCarthy, Scientific Fellow and Affiliate Professor at Manchester Metropolitan College’s Faculty of Physiotherapy.
Sitting for eight or extra hours a day is understood to trigger main well being dangers, which is one purpose standing desks are rising in recognition.
The podcast dialogue covers the advantages of those desks and the significance of alternating between standing and sitting (standing for too lengthy at a time can load the lumbar backbone, inflicting again complaints).
Stacy recommends a 50/50 cut up of sitting and standing, switching each half-hour, and suggests setting an alarm or utilizing an app in your pc to remind you to vary place.
It’s at this level McCarthy comes up together with his genius suggestion: “The factor I discover that’s most likely probably the most helpful a part of a show display tools evaluation with folks is definitely getting them to purchase a kitchen timer… have it on the desk so there’s one thing that bodily goes off to remind you to maneuver.”
However why a timer? “If there’s an app I discover I can ignore it, however when you’ve acquired a colourful timer that goes off and annoys everyone you’ll most likely extra doubtless to make use of it,” he explains.
For these contemplating a sit–stand desk, or struggling to regulate to at least one they already personal, a kitchen timer could possibly be a easy however efficient instrument to make sure you’re getting the correct well being advantages from it.
Many individuals already personal a kitchen timer, and when you don’t, you may choose one up for just some {dollars}.
A two-pack of digital timers in inexperienced and blue is out there for $4.97 on Amazon, which is a small worth to pay if it helps you keep match and wholesome and finally contributes to extending your life.