Are You Sitting Comfortably? (Guest Post)

While I'm away at the Isle of Wight Festival I have a few guest posts lined up from some great fitness bloggers...

Today we have Autumn from the brilliant blog Tiny Runner! She writes about running, racing, training and everything in between, with some really insightful posts- head over and check her out.

Standing Desks

A quick flick through my blog will tell you that I’m a woman that leads a fairly active lifestyle. As well as all the running and racing that feature in my blog posts, I also go to the gym (although not as often as I’d like) and do quite a bit of strength work at home. I’m a regular attender at my local bootcamp and occasionally I’ll stick on a fitness DVD.

But there’s a big however in all of this. If a medical professional watched my every move for a full day, they’d more than likely warn me that I’m living a sedentary lifestyle and therefore leaving myself open to increased risks of cancer, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Hang on a minute, let’s back up for a second. How on earth could someone who spends up to ten hours a week (sometimes more) exercising have their lifestyle classed as ‘sedentary’? It’s quite simple really…..it’s because of my office chair. And my sofa. And my car.

Yesterday, for example, I was up early (5:15am) and I spent about half an hour on some core and strength work. After getting ready, I drove the 45 minute car journey to work and immediately went to my office and sat at my desk. I’ll was there for about another 8 hours. I then drove the 45 minute journey back home and went out running for about an hour. After making the tea and completing a few other chores I sat down on the sofa with my other half for the rest of the evening. After all, I’d had a hectic day……

The simple truth is that an hour’s cardio and some strength work does not negate the ten plus hours of sitting. So in a bid to improve my overall health and wellbeing, I made myself a ramshackle standing desk and challenged myself to stick with it for a week.

In true ‘Blue Peter’ style, I’ve just used some cardboard boxes of varying sizes and a plastic tray turned upside down (sticky-back plastic not required). I got the inspiration from Laura and Anna who have both made standing desks of their own.

Laura's desk - Source

Anna's desk - Source

I’ve been using my standing desk for just over a week now and so far this is what I’ve found:

It takes a while to get used to. If your body is used to sitting down all day then making it stand up for long periods of time is a shock to the system. I started out by alternating 20 minutes of standing with 40 minutes of sitting and gradually increased the amount of time spent standing up.
Don’t wear heels. It’s common sense that if you’re going to be standing up more then the comfier your shoes feel, the better. Personally I preferred standing barefoot. This has led to some interesting conversations with colleagues but I soon got over my embarrassment.
Lunch breaks/tea breaks are the best thing ever. If you’ve been standing up for most of the morning, don’t underestimate how wonderful it is to sit down with a cuppa!
Make sure your monitor/keyboard/mouse is at the correct level. Just like Laura did, I found that I kept straining my neck when sitting down to look up at the screen as I couldn’t be bothered to keep altering the height of the monitor.
It’s surprisingly hard work. I’m still struggling to stand for long periods of time and find that I’m more tired than usual in an evening. But it’s only been a week and I know it will take a while for my body to adjust.

But before anyone panics or feels like I’m scaremongering office workers to stand to attention all day long, I can assure you that the professionals believe that the best solution is to find a balance between the two. Standing up all day could also cause you problems and some doctors believe that standing all day is not necessarily better than sitting. The key is movement. I think I’ve managed to find a good balance between standing for a short while, sitting for a short while and then going for a little walk around the building. I’m never stuck in one position for more than 30 minutes at a time and I have to say I feel so much better for it.

I’m also finding unexpected benefits as a runner. I often have tight hip flexors and my hamstrings are constantly tight. But even after just a week I’m already noticing a decrease in this tightness and my legs and lower back feel stronger.