Have you ever wondered what effect sitting at your desk for eight hours or more a day is doing to your health?

Recent studies show it could seriously affect your health. And although we are unable to change some sitting behaviours throughout the day, one area we can change and improve is how much time we spend sitting at work. By integrating electric desk legs into new or existing office desks, we can transform our workspace from a static position into a dynamic and healthier working environment, all at the touch of a button.

Research shows prolonged sitting can lead to neck and back injuries and slow down the body’s ability to break down blood fats and blood glucose which can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Concentration levels can also decrease and productivity decline. Following on from European workplace health guidelines, a growing number of private and public organisations in Australia are now recognising the benefits of their staff being able to alternate between sitting and standing while they work by offering them electric, height-adjustable desks.

Some Australian organisations that are now offering electric, height-adjustable desks and workstations to their staff include Macquarie Bank, Centrelink, ABC Radio, Austereo, Chevron Energy, Victoria Police, Road Transport Authority, ATO, SA Ambulance, NSW Fire Brigade and many others. Mitch Farrell from LINAK, suppliers of electric actuators for these desks and workstations, believes there is now a paradigm shift in office furniture, with many enlightened organisations investing in staff health and wellbeing. “Companies have always promoted exercise among their employees, but neglected what happens in the office at the desk, where people spend up to 75 per cent of their time sitting,” says Farrell. “Having the choice to sit AND stand at your desk while you work is simply good for people and their companies. Happier, healthier more productive staff and fewer days off.” At LINAK’S Melbourne headquarters, each desk for the 34 staff is electric height adjustable. According to health and exercise experts, the majority of people aren’t moving enough at work (or home), and the consequences can be dire. Associate Professor David Dunstan¹, Head of Physical Research at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne says our lifestyle at work and home needs changing urgently. “Our sedentary time in the workplace or on the couch at home is shortening our lives and making us unhealthy,” says Dunstan, a long-time advocate of moving more at work and the need to break up sedentary time. He says that prolonged periods of inactivity can affect the body’s processing of fats, glucose and other substances that can contribute to chronic disease, even for people who adhere to the national physical activity recommendations. 

When we’re sitting down, our skeletal muscles, particularly the lower limbs, are not active. This absence of muscle contraction for prolonged periods of the day induced through sitting essentially means that many of the body’s regulatory processes such as glucose transportation and utilisation, are compromised. “Being immobile (sitting) for prolonged periods can slow down the body’s regulatory processes including the enzymes needed to break down blood fats and blood glucose,” says Dunstan. “Evidence of prolonged sitting suggests a link between cardiovascular events, type 2 diabetes, body mass index (BMI) and premature mortality. There’s also the compounding stress on our muscles and joints. “We simply need to move more – a few minutes every half an hour. Just the act of alternating between sitting and standing at a desk or getting up from the couch is an excellent preventative measure and can make a significant impact on our health,” he says. Dunstan works at an electric height adjustable desk at his office.

A New Zealand study conducted by the Medical Research Institute² in Wellington also warns that people who sit stationary for hours at a time are at risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT). These findings suggested that more people are at risk of developing deep vein thrombosis from long periods of sitting, than from long distance flying – the other well-known cause of DVT. According to LINAK, by installing an electric height adjustable desk you are not working less, just differently and in fact, by switching between a sitting and standing position regularly throughout the day, it will in fact make you more efficient. This is because when we adjust our position from sitting to standing we activate major muscles in the lower back, buttocks and upper legs. This in turn improves blood circulation throughout and body and this increased blood flow throughout our bodies make us more alert.

LINAK are also an environmentally conscious company and as a result have designed their control boxes to be as well. This means while the desk is not in use and the control box is in standby it will draw just 0.1Watts per hour, making LINAK systems not only a design friendly option, but an environmentally friendly option as well. LINAK’s US division have released an app for iPhone called movingdesks. This app has an alarm which reminds you to stand and then a repeat alarm which indicates it is time to sit down. This app is free and available to download from iTunes. They also have a range of videos available to view on You Tube and brochures available to download from their website www.linak.com.au which include exercises you can also do while standing at your new sit-stand desk.