Thanks to continued research and thousands of articles online, we now know that sitting down for extended periods can wreak havoc on your overall wellness and health. Unfortunately, today’s contemporary jobs require many of us to sit at a desk for eight to ten hours daily. Sitting is almost as bad as smoking today because sitting for too long or general lack of activity has been proven to have disastrous and devastating effects on your overall health and wellness.

Any stationary posture that does not require the use of energy is typically detrimental to your health. When it comes to sitting, in particular, what happens, in a nutshell, is that your electrical activity drops, which gives way to a surge of debilitating metabolic effects. When your body’s caloric burning capacity slows down, it also reduces your efficiency level, as well as your productivity.

Let’s face it: nobody wants to keep working when they are constantly thinking about the pain in their back or shoulders.  The good news though is that the negative effects of sitting can be reduced considerably if not eliminated entirely simply by taking more breaks at work. The breaks do not even have to be long; as little as 15 to 25 minutes can do wonders not just for your back, neck, and shoulders, but also for your energy levels.

So what are the benefits of standing?

Higher energy levels

Standing while at work is important because it helps to encourage your creativity levels and enhances your capacity to collaborate with your co-workers. Individuals who stand more often at work report fewer stress-related incidences and less fatigue compared to those that do not. 

Improved mood

Standing releases mood-boosting neurotransmitters in the brain such as dopamine and endorphins. As a result, the more you stand or get up and move throughout the course of the day, the more relaxed and happier you will be.

It boosts your productivity levels

While standing on a regular basis will definitely take some getting used to, it does appear to have a significant impact on your productivity levels. Considering that standing already has a substantial effect on your mood and energy levels, it then stands to reason that standing automatically improves your productivity rather than hinder it.

It tones your muscles

Standing helps to strengthen the muscles in your core and legs. Furthermore, it also improves your overall posture and balance. Standing with great posture works to strengthen your posture, which consequently helps to tone your core muscles and raise your metabolism.

Fewer cravings

When you are feeling moody and are experiencing low energy levels, the best thing that you can do is stand up and move a bit. If you do not, you are more likely to experience cravings for the worst kind of food.

Incorporating standing and walking breaks into your day is one great way to make sure that you have those pesky cravings under control. Physical activity, regardless of how menial it may appear decreases ghrelin levels and increases peptide YY levels. Ghrelin is the hormone that is responsible for increasing your appetite while peptide is the hormone that signals the feeling of fullness.

Improved memory

Standing at certain moments of the day is a great way to give your memory a needed boost. Standing can cause changes in your brain that enhance your memory levels and your reasoning capacity in general.

Here at Rice Family Chiropractic, we take a holistic approach to our practice, which means we consider your health to be a sum of all your inputs—mental, spiritual and physical. If you have any questions about what standing more often can do to your health and wellness and how it relates to your spinal health, please don’t hesitate to call us for an appointment.

Rice Family Chiropractic

Wellness from our family, to yours.

Dr. Erin and James Rice

#310-6525 204 Street

Langley, BC V2Y 3B3

604 539 0542