Standing Desk Blog

Standee Anti-Fatigue Mat XL Press Release

                 

Press Release                                                                                              

                    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Standee Co. Launches XL Anti-Fatigue Mat

OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA- September 9, 2015. Standee Co. (www.standeeco.com) announced today the launch of its Standee® Anti-Fatigue Mat XL which sells for $119.95 and is available for immediate purchase through the Company’s website, Amazon, and Ebay.

The Standee Mat XL is a new extra long anti-fatigue mat designed to encourage movement and extend the active standing range of standing desk users. Measuring 70” x 24” x ¾” and constructed of polyurethane foam with a leather top, beveled edges, and an anti-slip back, the Standee Mat XL provides all-day standing comfort and is the perfect companion for the Standee Flex or for any standing job. Check it out now in the Standee Store!

 

ABOUT STANDEE CO.

Standee Co. designs and manufactures standing desks, anti-fatigue mats, and related products that are aimed at reducing the health risks of sedentary work environments. The company’s mission is to significantly improve the health and longevity of the world’s workforce by fundamentally changing the way people work and by empowering employers and employees to adopt a new more active and healthy approach to work. Standee Co. desks are eco-friendly, ergonomically designed, and engineered for performance and affordability.

For more information, visit www.standeeco.com.

CONTACT

Reid Hollen

Standee Co.

3809 Ocean Ranch Blvd., Suite 110

Oceanside, CA 92056

(P) 888-766-9974

(F) 760-859-3515

(E) rhollen@standeeco.com

www.standeeco.com

Apple Watch Lets You Know It's Time to Stand

The Apple Watch, one of Apple’s most recent products, has numerous functions from calling to texting to directions. One cool new feature it has is the health and fitness Activity App, which measures all the ways you move. Not only does it track all your movements, but it also encourages you to keep moving with notifications. The interface of the Activity App is set up in rings, with the goal being to complete each of the 3 rings (Move, Exercise, and Stand) each day.

Photo from Apple.com

The Stand ring wants to put distance between you and the chair. To do this it shows how often you stand up to take a break from sitting. To help minimize sitting time, the watch senses when you move and gives you credit for doing so. If you sit for almost an hour, it reminds you to get up. In order to complete the Stand ring you must stand up and move for a little at least one minute in each of the 12 hours during the day.

Photo from Apple.com

If you do not have an Apple Watch don’t fret! Red Davis and Hector Simpson, fans of the Apple Watch’s reminder to stand up every hour, created “Stand,” a new app for Mac. This new app has the same goal as the Apple Watch Activity App: to get you to stand up every hour.

Photo from Businessinsider.com

The “Stand” app has a simple, user-friendly interface. You choose the time in the hour that you want to be notified to stand and the app appears at that time with the notification “Time to stand up!” It is a pretty basic app, but the benefits of using it are huge if it accomplishes its goal of getting you to move around every hour.

Although we think both of these are great accessories, it is very difficult to meet your standing goals if you work at a desk job and don’t have a standing desk. Many people are concerned about the cost of a standing desk, but there are some beautiful, very affordable models at www.standeeco.com. We are adding a super affordable electronic sit-stand desk to our product lineup in the next couple of weeks, which will make these new Activity Apps even more useful.

Great Video Spreading Awareness of the Dangers of Sitting—Part II

In our last blog we introduced you to a great video explaining the dangers of sitting. In today’s blog we’ll tell you about a second video that we also think is well worth your time.

Video 2: Are You Sitting Too Much?

Video Time: 3:02 min.

Views: 2,456,717

 

The popular Youtube channel AsapSCIENCE created this viral video using whiteboard marker animation. The video is more concise than the video we mentioned in our last blog but contains an equal amount of useful information. Here are a few of the key points from the video:

• As soon as you sit down the electrical activity in your muscles drops significantly and your calorie-burning rate plummets to about 1 calorie per minute.
• After only 3 hours of sitting, there is a 50% drop in artery dilation and a resultant decrease in blood flow.
• Sit for 24 hours straight, and the insulin in your body loses nearly 40% of its ability to uptake glucose, which increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
• After 2 weeks of sitting for more than 6 hours a day, LDL cholesterol, sometimes called the “bad” cholesterol, is increased, along with other fatty molecules, putting you at a greater risk for weight gain.
• Because of prolonged inactivity, your muscles begin to break down. Gradually, their contractions become weaker, ultimately impeding the pumping of blood to the heart.
• Even if you work out regularly, the minute you stop moving the deterioration begins again, in proportion to your sitting time.
• That’s the scary part; research shows that just as exercise doesn’t necessarily counteract the negative effects of something like smoking, it doesn’t counteract the negative effects of too much sitting.
• Some studies in women have even shown a decrease in bone mass upwards of 1% every year.
• Perhaps most shocking is that after 10-20 years of sitting for 6 hours a day, you may have lost up to 7 quality-adjusted life years—that is, years without medical issues or death.
• The risk of dying from heart disease increases by 64% while the risk of prostate or breast cancer increases by 30% (based on above stat).
• Simply put, our bodies aren’t designed to be sedentary.

I urge you to take a moment to watch these videos to be informed on the detrimental effects sitting imposes on your body. If you are moved by the information, share these videos with friends and most importantly start moving! If a standing desk is the solution for you or if you want to learn more about standing desks as a solution, visit our store and check out some of the affordable natural add-on podiums like the Standee Classic and Standee Classic XL.

Great Video Spreading Awareness of the Dangers of Sitting—Part I

I stumbled across two videos that did a great job explaining the dangers of sitting. This blog will highlight the first video, and our next blog will do the same for the second video. 

Video 1: Why Sitting is Bad for You

Viewing Time: 5:05 min.

Views: 974,462

This awesome video is part of the TedEd Lessons Worth Sharing series. In the video Murat Dalkilinc investigates the hidden risks of sitting down. Not only is the video animation engaging but also the video is really educational and covers a lot of points that have not been mentioned in other articles and media coverage. It’s only five minutes of your time and definitely well worth the watch. Here are a few of the key points from the video:

 

• The longer you stay put, the more agitated your body becomes. It sits there counting down the moments until you stand up again and take it for a walk.
• The human body is built to move, and you can see evidence of that in the way it’s structured. Inside us are over 360 joints and about 700 skeletal muscles that enable easy, fluid motion.
• Our body depends on us moving around to be able to circulate properly. Our nerve cells benefit from movement, and our skin is elastic, meaning it molds to our motions.
• A common way of sitting is with a curved back and slumped shoulders, a position that puts uneven pressure on your spine. Over time, this causes wear and tear in your spinal discs, overworks certain ligaments and joints, and puts strain on muscles that stretch to accommodate your back’s curved position.
• Sitting for long periods also temporarily deactivates lipoprotein lipase, a special enzyme in the walls of blood capillaries that breaks down fats in the blood, so when you sit you’re not burning fat nearly as well as when you move around.
• Being stationary reduces blood flow and the amount of oxygen entering your blood stream through your lungs. Your brain requires both of those things to remain alert, so your concentration levels will most likely dip as your brain activity slows.
• Researchers have worked out that, worldwide, inactivity causes about 9% of premature deaths a year. That’s over 5 million people.
• So what seems like such a harmless habit actually has the power to change our health.

One of the shortcomings of the video is it doesn’t cover practical solutions that can help people avoid prolonged periods of sitting. Standee Co. offers some great, in expensive solutions including stand-up desks and anti-fatigue mats.

Growing Presense of Stand-up Desks in Classrooms

Although a major focus of the standing desk community has been the adoption of the stand-up workstations at offices and workplaces (due to the higher age range), there has been a movement towards putting stand-up desks in classrooms as well. The reasoning: if stand-up desks increase alertness, engagement, and productivity in offices, shouldn’t they do the same in classrooms?

A recent study from the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health deduces that “standing workstations reduce disruptive behavior problems and increase students’ attention or academic behavioral engagement by providing students with a different method for completing academic tasks (like standing) that breaks up the monotony of seated work.” The study, published in the International Journal of Health Promotion, involved almost 300 children in second through fourth grade who were observed over the course of a school year. Preliminary results show 12 percent greater on-task engagement in classrooms with standing desks, which is equivalent to an extra seven minutes per hour of engaged instruction time. Furthermore, previous studies at Texas A&M have shown that the desks can help reduce obesity, with students using standing desks burning 15 percent more calories than students at traditional desks (25 percent for obese children).

Since the studies have been published, there has been a movement of schools actually bringing in stand up desks to their classrooms. Crossfit’s Kelly Starrett, with help from DonorsChoose, is pioneering a new classroom style that’s improving students’ health and focus. In particular, by the beginning of the school year next August, there will be no chairs in any of the classrooms at Vallecito Elementary in San Rafael, California. This drastic change is based on the basic facts that many kids are sedentary as much as 80 to 90 percent of the time they’re awake, and over a lifetime, sitting for more than six hours a day increases the risk of death. Currently the school is raising funds for the new desks, and the Starretts have launched a nonprofit called StandUpKids to help spur the change in other schools. The couple hopes to raise a $1 million matching grant to support donations for individual schools across the country. The website StandUpKids.org walks you through the science behind the benefits of standing desks for students and also makes a case for people to support these programs. In 10 years, the Starretts hope that every public school in the U.S. is standing.

Another effort to bring desks into schools, although on a much smaller scale, involves three senior high school students bringing desks to a nearby elementary school. The three started “Stand Up Batavia,” a community service project to bring standing workstations into Batavia Elementary School. To start off, they hope to bring 18 desks (accompanied by stools) into three fourth grade classrooms. They hope to raise the $11,520 needed by the end of the year.

As there is a growing number of standing workstations in offices, there will be a subsequent increase in the number of workstations in classrooms as parents realize the great benefits from standing at work throughout the day. Also, the publishing of more studies regarding the effects of standing in the classroom on children will further push the concerned parent to make sure a change is made in their childrens’ classroom. A perfect workstation for your child to make the transition to standing at home or in the classroom is the Standee Classic. Schools and parents should also consider an ant-fatigue mat like the Standee Anti-Fatigue Mat to ensure comfort while the children stand. It will take a mass movement for the Starretts to achieve their goal of every public school in U.S. standing in the next 10 years, but it surely can be done. Does your child’s school have any stand up workstations? After reading this blog would you like them to? Give your child’s school a call and find out. It might be the best thing you can do for your child’s health, not to mention their academic performance.

Great Britain in the Vertical World War

             In the midst of the Vertical Revolution, Americans across the country are using the health risks of sitting as the main ammunition to take over sedentary lifestyles. However, in reality, it should be termed the Vertical World War because the U.S. is not alone in this fight. Many other countries like Australia and Britain are taking a stand as well and urging the many citizens to follow suit. Great Britain, specifically, has a very useful website, GetBritainStanding.org, for anyone in the world considering making the switch to a sit-stand station.

 

            GetBritainStanding.org has rich content on the many aspects of sedentary work environments. The content helps to inform people of the health risks associated with sitting as well as offer solutions to employers and employees. Under the health risks tab, “The Sitting Problem,” is presented along with the top 10 health risks and the research that has been done thus far.  Furthermore, there is a tab for their "Active Working” campaign that has many resources for educating companies on the productivity, engagement, and reduced absenteeism benefits of Active Working. 

 

            Two tabs on GetBritainStanding.org I would like to highlight as being very useful are the “Employers” and “Solutions” tabs. The section for employers has a comprehensive review of everything one needs to know to convert his or her office from a sedentary to an active work environment. This tab also includes key information for employers, the costs of sitting, regulations, and other necessary parts for an employer to consider. It also has a link to reserve a spot at the annual Active Working Summit, where companies are educated on the many benefits of active working. The “Solutions” tab is also significant because it offers many sit-stand solutions with desktop risers similar to the Standee Classic, help with getting started, as well as discount vouchers. Moreover, in this tab there is a section for one to post and read stories and experiences regarding the switching to a sit-stand station as well as Q & A.  

 

            One of the unique features on this site is the “Sitting Calculator” which is conveniently placed directly on the homepage. This calculator allows you to determine your risk level based on your sitting time. To do this, the calculator asks you to estimate the time you spend sitting daily while you eat, commute, work, and relax. After estimating the amount of time in each of these areas, you hit calculate and see your risk level which ranges from “low” to “very high.” Next time you get a chance, go on to GetBritainStanding.org and check out your risk level, it may motivate you to start standing today!

            GetBritainStanding.org does a great job at including the necessary information one needs if they are considering switching to an active work environment. Although many of the statistics displayed on the site such as “British people sit for 8.9 hours each day (on average)” are directed towards the British, all of the information regarding the health risks and transition to standing is universal and should be brought to the attention people around the world that are making, or considering to make, the change. Check it out now. 

University Study Demonstrates Significant Blood Flow Impairment from Prolonged Sitting

As more and more research surfaces revealing the negative health effects of sitting, people are attempting to find ways to combat those adverse health effects. Recently, an Indiana University study has found that walking for five minutes every hour can reverse harm caused to leg arteries during an hour of prolonged sitting.

 

The reasoning behind this claim is that when you sit, slack muscles do not contract to effectively pump blood to the heart. Hence, blood can pool in the legs and affect the endothelial function of arteries, or the ability of blood vessels to expand from increased blood flow. This university study is the first experimental evidence of these effects.

 

During this study, researchers were able to demonstrate that the expansion of the arteries, as a result of increased blood flow of the main artery in the legs, was impaired by as much as 50 percent after just one hour. However, the participants who walked for five minutes after every hour of sitting saw no change in their arterial function.

 

The study involved 11 non-obese, healthy men with ages ranging from 20 to 35 who participated in two randomized trials. In one trial they sat for three hours without moving their legs. In the other trial they sat for a three-hour period but also walked on a treadmill for five minutes at the speed of 2 mph halfway through each hour. Researchers used a blood pressure cuff and ultrasound technology to measure the functionality of the femoral artery at baseline and again at each hour mark.

 

The study, “Effect of Prolonged Sitting and Breaks in Sitting Time on Endothelial Function,” will be published in the spring in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

 

American adults sit for about eight hours a day. The health effects are visible after just one hour. Knowing this, everyone should take action to disrupt prolonged sitting every hour, whether it’s working at a stand up desk or taking a break to walk for five minutes through the office.

Solutions to the Sedentary Work Environment Epidemic

Think about your job or the job you hope to have; how much physical activity does it require? Given that sedentary habits have become so institutionalized in the workplace and engrained in our daily routines, reversing the sedentary work environment epidemic is a difficult undertaking. However, this process has already begun with a number of solutions. 

One recent solution that has emerged is standing desks. Standing desks enable an individual to be active at his or her desk. Stand-up desks come in many different forms. There are fully adjustable standing desks that allow you to change your desk into a standup desk electronically, and there are add-on podiums like the Standee Classic XL if you don’t want to replace your entire desk. At the extreme end of the spectrum, there are treadmill-standing desks, which enable you to walk on a treadmill while working.

People who have standing desks should engage in “postural rotation,” which involves alternating between sitting and standing positions throughout the day. Postural rotation is important because standing all day can also be strenuous on your body. You don’t have to have an adjustable stand up desk to practice postural rotation. Generally, there are plenty of opportunities to take a break from standing by sitting at lunch, sitting in a meeting, and sitting in your car during your commute. Standing desks are going mainstream, particularly in the tech world at companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Another solution involves exercising while at work through company gyms and exercise programs. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company Title IX has a 2,200 square foot gym in its office and an instructor comes in often to lead “CrossFit-like workout[s].” Many other companies have followed suit. Wellness programs like these have resulted in greater productivity, a decline in absenteeism, and reduced long-term health care costs, according to Inc. Magazine.

 
A complimentary solution to exercise programs is providing healthy food in the company cafeteria.  According to Inc. Magazine, offering employees healthy meal options boosts their performance while also satisfying their nutritional needs. Healthy food is a necessary part of any company wellness program.

 
The facts speak for themselves. Though it is a daunting task, every workplace should strive to make the transition from a sedentary to an active work environment. Companies that fail to do so are doing both themselves and their employees a disservice in terms of productivity and health. As more companies implement active work environments, they will set an example for their peer companies, and ultimately it will become a competitive requirement. 

 
It is not solely the employers’ responsibility to make the change from a sedentary work environment, however. Potential employees can and should be putting pressure on companies to make the transition as well. In an interview, one of the job candidate's go-to questions for the company should be, "Have you done anything to address the problem of sedentary work environments?" This might seem strange, but slowly, this tactic is sure to create change in the workplace. And if you already have a job, inform your employer about the health risks of sitting and the long-term benefits of an active work environment. 

 
As the research indicating the negative health effects of sedentary lifestyles gains momentum, so too will active workplace alternatives. Companies that are ahead of the curve will benefit greatly. We all need to combat the negative health effects of the sedentary work environment. Let’s take the necessary steps to stop being a society of sitters.