To Sit or To Stand; That Is the Question

Standing desks might seem a bit trendy today, but they actually come from a long history of use. Artists and architects alike are known for their use of easels and drafting tables, both being forms of a standing desk. In fact, even though it doesn’t seem to be recorded in the annals of history anywhere, many still believe that Leonardo Da Vinci most likely used a standing easel to paint the Mona Lisa and a standing desk for his notes and drawings of his innumerable inventions and ideas.

Later, the advice of an English dissenting minister in 1797 may have contributed to the rise of this furniture.  Job Orton said, “A sedentary life may be injurious. It must therefore be your resolute care to keep your body as upright as possible when you read and write; never stoop your head nor bend your breast. To prevent this, you should get a standing desk.”

Thomas Jefferson also used a “tall desk” in his home throughout his careers. Some believe he used this desk, at least in part, to write the Declaration of Independence. Napoleon Bonaparte was said to have endorsed the use of standing desks as it allowed for quick movement in preparing for military efforts. Winston Churchill was also one who vehemently used the standing desk for dictating his many historical writings. In Best Little Stories from the Life and Times of Winston Churchill, C. Brian Kelly and Ingrid Smyer wrote, “The flooring of Churchill’s second-floor study deliberately resembled the timbers of a ship’s quarterdeck. Here was the engine room of his literary output, the nerve center where he paced before a crude wooden stand-up desk made by a local carpenter, dictating until late at night.”

Many famous composers and literary authors also found advantages from standing desks. Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner, both German composers, were known for standing to write. In a letter to Wagner’s wife dated March 22, 1855, he writes, “My setting up is fairly finished. A splendid Erard grand [piano] has arrived; I have had a standing-desk built for me, and have already picked up again, as well as I can, the threads of my profitless work.” Wagner apparently had a personality to rival his common sense.

Ernest Hemmingway (The Old Man and the Sea), Virginia Woolfe (Mrs Dalloway), Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol) and Lewis Carroll (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) all professed a preference for a standing desk in their literary pursuits. When writing is one’s primary activity, sitting for hours and days at a time can breed lethargy, slow creativity, and diminish energy. The option to stand instead can invigorate the body while the mind is fast at work.

In addition to their surprising history, standing desks have a plethora of benefits to them. Standing while working allows the blood to circulate more freely, it promotes openness in the gut, and it engages the largest muscle groups in the human body consistently: the quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings. Even the lats in the back get more engagement holding the posture than when sitting. Many people experience back pain from sitting too long, and tight hip flexors are a chronic challenge for most adults today. One study showed that approximately 94% of young adults (ages 18-25) have tight hip flexors!

As well as the Musculoskeletal System, several other systems of the body are negatively affected by too much sitting. The Cardiovascular System is impacted by the lack of activity, weakening the heart, raising blood pressure, contributing to vascular stiffness, and reducing circulation. Lack of movement contributes to diabetes and obesity because the largest muscles (thigh muscles and glutes) will not use enough glucose while sitting because they are not engaged. This leads to higher blood sugar causing insulin resistance, which makes it harder for muscles to use glucose for energy, thus storing it as fat.

A sedentary lifestyle even promotes a vicious cycle inside the body for cancer cells to thrive. The weight gain from sitting too much causes hormone dysregulation, including high insulin. When the body chronically experiences high insulin, this fuels tumor growth and slows the metabolism, which in turn causes more weight gain.

However, regular standing is shown to burn up to 30% more calories than sitting! That may not sound like much, but if one multiplies that out over a month or a year, it adds up quickly. Similarly, the cognitive and creative benefits also increase exponentially. “The ancient Greeks understood the link between walking and optimizing cognitive function for students. Based on the principle of maintaining a Sound Mind in a Sound Body, Aristotle founded the famous Peripatetic School where teaching took place while walking on pathways around the Lyceum” (source). Because standing, or even better, alternately standing and sitting, can increase blood flow, energy, and mental clarity, creative juices get a burst as well.

We tend to think of sitting as the body being “at rest,” but there are many medical experts who advise otherwise. At The Innovation Spot, all of our offices are equipped with hefty, electronic sit/stand desks that can be raised or lowered with the push of a button. We have just a few available at the moment; give us a call to come see it for yourself. It may answer a need you didn’t know you had!