Little by little, people are adopting a healthy lifestyle in comparison to previous generations. To shift to a healthier lifestyle, you have to adopt new habits and eliminate bad ones. It is not always easy, but the result is worth the effort. Some of these habits that you can begin to practice include:

• Eating and drinking organic products;
• Sleeping well and avoiding to stress yourself out;
• Drinking alcohol moderately and avoiding drugs;
• Being physically active;
• Socializing and practicing leisure activities;
• Creating an ergonomic and healthy work environment.

Regarding the last point, you may wonder how you can create a healthier workspace. Well, for starters, you can do it by replacing your common desk with a standing one. If you are the type of person that enjoys building things, you can even make a standing desk yourself. You can buy a kit with all the components that allow you to custom-make it.

Why Use a Standing Desk

A standing desk allows you to adjust its height to work either sitting or standing. An automated standing desk is much more convenient since the height adjustment is made by simply pressing a button. There’s much hype about the benefits of this type of desk. Besides the style transformation of your workspace, it is often said that standing desks promote a healthier lifestyle.

There is no doubt that a standing desk encourages to move during working hours. But, what are the specific benefits to your health that such a desk can bring? Scientific research has provided some real facts separated from the hype. Let’s review some of them.

Benefit #1: Less Risk of Obesity

Obesity is caused by an excessive gain of weight. It results from burning fewer calories than are consumed. One of the best ways to burn calories is by doing exercise. Although you cannot exercise during office hours, standing will burn 170 kcal more than just sitting. No wonder sitting for a long time is one of the fastest ways to become obese.

Benefit #2: Lower Blood Sugar Level

Standing for 3 hours after lunch will reduce the blood sugar spike by 43% in comparison to sitting for the same time. It is particularly important for people that are affected by diabetes. Several experiments have demonstrated that standing reduces blood sugar levels in comparison to sitting. Thus, working on a standing desk is an effective way to prevent type-2 diabetes.

Benefit #3: Lower Risk of Heart Disease

After many observations, scientists have concluded that a sedentary lifestyle leads to an increase in the risk of heart disease. Sitting for a long time every day can represent a 147% higher risk of heart disease. Hence, standing lowers this risk significantly, if not as much as doing exercise.

Benefit #4: Fewer Back Problems

People that spend many hours sitting a day often suffer from back pain. The causes include bad sitting positions and inadequate seats. It has been demonstrated that standing reduces the risk of back and neck pain by as much as 54%.