Standing desks, also known as sit and stand desks are basically pieces of furniture that let you stand up comfortably while working. Most modern sit stand desk versions are height adjustable and you can alternate between standing and sitting. They provide a couple of benefits for your health and thus increase productivity and help fight against the negative consequences of sitting too much. That being said, here are some ways that a stand up sit down desk can benefit your health.

Lower Chance of Weight Gain and Obesity

Weight gain is the result of consuming more calories than spending. Conversely, spending more calories than consuming will ultimately result in weight loss. Exercising is the best way to burn calories quickly, but standing instead of sitting can also be beneficial. When compared to spending an afternoon sitting, standing up has shown to burn as much as 200 calories. That’s about 1000 calories burned each week just by standing instead of sitting at your desk every day. This caloric difference can be one of the main reasons why sitting longer is tightly linked to metabolic disease and obesity.

Lower Blood Sugar Levels

Typically, the more your blood sugar level is increased after a meal, the worse it’s going to be for your health. This is especially true for people with type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance. Standing for 2 to 3 hours after lunch can reduce this blood sugar spike by 40-50% compared to those who sit for the same amount of time. All that without doing any other physical movements around the office. In fact, standing for just 30 minutes throughout your workday can reduce blood sugar spike by 10% on average. The negative effects of sitting down right after a meal are considered to add an astounding 110% risk to developing type 2 diabetes.

Lower Risk of Heart Disease

The notion that standing is better for the health of your heart was proposed all the way back in 1953. A study found that bus drivers had twice the risk of heart disease-related deaths than bus conductors who stood throughout the day. And now that we have a much better understanding of the negative effects that sitting has on your heart’s health, it’s estimated that prolonged sedentary hours increase the risk of heart disease for as much as 150%. In fact, sitting for long hours has negative effects that not even intense exercise can make up for.

Reduced Back Pain

Back pain is one of the worst enemies of office workers. Numerous studies have shown that using a stand up sit down desk for a couple of weeks can help improve lower back pain by 30% and neck and upper back pain by 50%. Switching back to using regular desks has shown to reverse these positive effects in just a few weeks.

Improved Energy Levels and Mood

Sit-stand desks have a positive effect on your overall well being. People using them report less stress and fatigue than those who sit throughout their entire workday. Further, most people who use them claim to have increased energy and vigour. Many users have reported that their overall mood and energy has reverted to the original levels after they’ve switched to using their old desks. Again, all of this just confirms that the sedentary lifestyle has negative effects on a person’s mental health, increasing the risk of developing anxiety and depression.

Boosted Productivity

Many people are concerned that standing desks can negatively impact certain daily tasks like typing. While standing and working may need some getting used to, they won’t affect your typical work tasks. A study involving young office workers who used a standing desk half their workday showed that there weren’t any dramatic changes in the number of typing errors or characters typed per minute. So when you consider that standing improves energy and mood, using a standing desk has higher chances of boosting your productivity rather than hindering it.

Standing Can Help You Live Longer

Numerous studies tightly relate sedentary lifestyle to early death. And that isn’t surprising when you consider the links between heart disease, type 2 diabetes and sedentary life. Those who sit most of their workday have a 50% greater risk of dying earlier than those who spend most of their workday standing. Another study has shown that reducing the sitting time to less than 3 hours a day can raise the average life expectancy by 2 years. While all of these studies don’t prove cause and effect, the evidence indicates that standing more can often lead to a longer lifespan.

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Simply said prolonged sitting increases mortality, along with the risk of sustaining injuries from repeated movements, like the carpal tunnel syndrome, neck and eye strain, and back aches and pains. Luckily, we live in the age of innovations, with ingenious concepts like the electric sit stand desks growing in popularity, so there’s improvement of the office as the workplace.

There’s also the fact sitting for hours and hours doesn’t make for productiveness, thus the quality of work lessens. Add an electric sit stand desk and you can have more productivity, plus the reduction of health related problems. When you alternate between sitting and standing, you have increased flexibility, as well as comfort, since moving the leg muscles is sure to boost the metabolism and bring about health benefits.

The electric sit stand desks make it easy to adjust them, as you can change positions just with a push of buttons you go from working while sitting to standing. If you’re not sure whether this would be a good solution for you, there are many benefits to think about, like lowering the risk of gaining weight, and obesity (yes, from sitting to standing you burn calories), also lowering the blood sugar levels, and cardiovascular issues.

It’s undeniable sit stand desks have their impact on reducing the back pain too, relieving the discomfort, and you can notice improvement within weeks. Moreover, these desks have a positive impact on the well-being as a whole, even with boosting energy levels, as well as your mood. Where there’s more energy and better mood, there’s less of a chance for stress and anxiety.

Taking this into consideration, it’s not only employees that get to benefit relying on this desk design but the employees just as much, since at the end of the day work gets done better, and faster, so it’s got to have a positive effect on profits too. Less risks of injuries implies less sick leaves. Take a stand for your health, and your work would undoubtedly result in that of quality.

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The feng-shui philosophy of design has tons of advice on how to decorate your work desk for the ultimate work success. However, if you don’t have a desk according to your taste, one that really makes you smile when you look at it first thing when you enter the office, then no feng-shui advice could bring you success.

So, before you jump into decorating it, first you should buy the right one; but if you thought that choosing a work desk just by the looks of it was the way to do it, you are terribly wrong. Choosing a work desk should be a carefully thought through process, since you are going to be stuck behind that desk for quite some time. That being said, you’re going to want not just to be ‘wowed’ every time you look at it, but to also feel comfortable using it. This means, you need to consider a few basic things when choosing your work desk:

1. Its purpose

What will you mostly use the desk for? This should be closely related to your profession, so what do you do? Are you an executive doing tons of paperwork and answering phones all day, or are you an architect, buried in large paper formats, pencils and drawings? Have in mind your needs and choose a desk that will be large enough to fit all your necessities so all of them can be within your arm’s reach.

2. Ergonomics and space

A desk can be ergonomic, despite the fact that most people think only chairs can be described as such. An ergonomic desk gives you enough space for your legs to comfortably fit underneath. The standard desk height should be around 77 centimetres. If you work on a computer, then have in mind that the keyboard should be placed at a comfortable height as well. For some users, a keyboard tray would be perfect. Bottom line here, you should have enough space on the desk surface for all your things and still have enough space as a working area.

3. Quality and durability

You can easily test these characteristics of a work desk by looking at the drawers. They can tell you a lot about the quality of the desk. For instance, if the suspension rollers are metal, that shows sturdy suspension. Moreover, if the drawers open easily while they are bearing weight, then that is a sign of a good work desk. Another sign of quality are the desk’s edges; examine them well – you don’t want any fraying. Finally, the desk’s warranty will give you a good idea of the quality and durability of it and whether you can expect it to serve you for a long time or not.

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• The Use of Excessive Force

  This can include anything from lifting heavier loads, pushing or pulling heavy objects, manually moving heavy material, maintaining or controlling equipment or tools. These are all considered to be excessive force if performed on a daily basis.

• Repetitive Tasks

  If the employees are performing the same motions over and over again over an extended period of time, there could be at risk of them developing chronic pain in the areas of the body that they are constantly using.

• Sitting or Working in Awkward Positions

  If this goes on for longer periods of time, the awkward positions place stress on the body which in the short term is not that bad but repetitively can have long term effects. Some of these positions may include reaching above your shoulder height, kneeling, squatting, leaning over, bending the wrists, or twisting the torso often.

• Using the Body to Apply Pressure to Items

  In certain working environments the employees find themselves in a situation when they must use one of the hands as a hammer or another type of tool and this can stress the whole body tremendously, since the pressure applied comes from gathering force from the body as a whole.

• Temperature

  Although minor, this factor can also have impact on the body, especially cooler temperatures. While it’s not enough on its own, in combination with something else it can make it easier for MSD to develop and progress.

• Vibrations

  This is yet another another risk that many people don’t think about. If you have constant vibrations on your hands you could easily damage the capillaries that can make your hands harder to control. Vibrations can have an effect on the whole body and not just the hands or arms.

Any combination of the factors mentioned above poses even a greater risk of suffering injuries.

While some of these may happen more often in an office environment and some may not, it is important to know how to prevent them from happening in the first place. While you can go in depth and research all the different aspects of ergonomics in the workplace including desk and chair ergonomics, today we will just touch on the basics of how you can prevent some of these risks at an office job.

The most common risk in an office environment is repetitive movements. In order to help ease this, you can get the employees to try switching up tasks, taking a few breaks, stretching as often as possible and provide lower back support. Safety should come first, so hopefully after reading this article you feel more able to integrate these tips into your work environment and prevent workplace injuries.

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As a responsible manager of your personal or your family’s finances, you’re obliged to manage them in a way so you get the most for your money and save something at the same time. And that’s mainly why you should use mortgage calculator; to help you calculate exactly what you should do with your money. Here are a few ways you can use mortgage calculator.

Calculate the Monthly Payments on a New Mortgage

As the name says it, it is a mortgage calculator, hence why the most common way of use is calculating the monthly payment on your mortgage. Whether you get it for buying a new house, or for refinancing an old mortgage, a mortgage calculator will calculate all the mortgage calculations that are hard and time-consuming, before you can blink. Moreover, it can easily compare all your loan options by putting all the relevant information and factors at the tip of your fingers, making otherwise scary financial decisions, a real breeze.

Calculate Your Mortgage Early Pay Off

If you got a mortgage with the term of 30 years or so, you should know that by the time this term is over, as a typical mortgage holder you would have made total interest payments much larger than the original principal on the loan. Use mortgage calculator to find out how you can shorten this term and save a lot by adding some extra money towards the loan’s principal each month, year or just one time.

Deciding If an ARM is Worth the Risk

An ARM is short for adjustable-rate mortgage and comes with a lower initial interest rate, which is very tempting. Although some users of this arrangement will find their monthly payments significantly cut, others may not benefit this much. So, to see where you stand with the ARM arrangement, use mortgage calculator and make a comparison of what would you pay with the ARM versus the amount you’d pay for a conventional 30-year fixed mortgage.

Know When Your Private Mortgage Insurance Is No Longer Needed

The general rule is: once you reach 20% equity in your home, you can request from your lender to wave private mortgage insurance requirement. To know when will you reach this threshold, use mortgage calculator and calculate it. First calculate your amortization table. Next you should multiply your original mortgage amount by 0.8 and compare this result with the closest number on the far-right column in the amortization table to see when will you get to the 20% threshold.

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Taking care of leather office chairs is pretty easy, however leather cannot be treated the same way your would other fabrics. It is important to know how to clean your chair correctly before you give it a try. Here are some appropriate ways to maintain your leather office chair.

#1 – Keep the chair seat free of dust and crumbs: With a soft brush, brush the chair seat frequently to remove dust and crumbs from the seams and the top of the seat.

#2 – Clean up spills immediately: Wipe up spills quickly so liquids don’t get soaked into the leather. Use a damp cloth to remove any residue and if the spill was something sticky like soda or chocolate, add a drop of mild detergent to clean it up. Wipe it with a clean cloth dipped in water and let the seat completely dry before using it.

#3 – Use a special leather cleaner: All leather office chairs should be cleaned with a leather cleaner only, once every two months.

#4 – Condition the leather to keep it looking supple: Over time, leather can lose its natural oils causing it to become dry. Since dry leather is more prone to cracking, it is highly recommended to apply a leather conditioner. With a soft cloth, gently wipe the product over the chair and wait the seat to fully dry before using it again.

#5 – Make your own cleaner: For an Eco-friendly cleaner, free of any chemicals all you will need is:

• – a small bowl
• – ¼ cup olive oil
• – ¼ cup vinegar
• – 10 drops of orange or lemon essential oil

Mix all the ingredients together. After you have dusted your leather office chairs and removed any bits of food, dip a clean, soft cloth into the homemade cleaner and then gently rub (with circular motion) the chairs. Use a clean and dry cloth to gently wipe down the chairs.

Before using the cleaner, test a hidden area (under the seat) to see if the cleaner will cause any damage to the leather. Apply the solution on a small area of the leather and let it dry for 20 minutes. If there is no discoloration it means that it is safe to use the mix to clean the chair.

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