“If you want to dedicate yourself to a lifetime of good habits, don’t start at the gym, start at the office”! (Guardian 2019)

Wellness is becoming a new kind of reality we live in. The 2010’s saw a proliferation of wellness trends.

In 2018 the Global Wellness Institute said the industry was valued at $4.2 trillion USD!
The Institute defines wellness as “the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health”.

Sounds great doesn’t it? Well it is. Millenials are drinking less and many of us are focused on daily self care habits. Overall it’s an encouraging trend for our health and wellbeing, however there have been some questionable trends along the way that actually might be bad for your health.

One of these trends (and you wouldn’t guess it), are standing desks! Standing desks actually have no evidence base, and could actually be bad for your health, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease (Guardian 2019).

It all began when an article in the New York Times Magazine in 2011, cited evidence from Dr James Levine at Mayo Clinic, that sitting all day was ‘a lethal activity’. This sparked a revolution in office furniture throughout the western world; with many large and small businesses installing standing desks for their staff.

It turns out neither is better than the other. The problem lies in epic stretches of time in one position. That is, too much time not moving!

The Guardian outlines the straightforward solution: make sure you move at the office. You can break up the day with some chair yoga, walks around the block, stretches on the wall, walking up and down the stairs (rather than taking the lift), pacing the corridor while taking calls, and having walking meetings!

Then feel free to sit back and stretch in your ergonomic chair.

This is our considered but light and brief introduction to the topic. For more information please check out:

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17sitting-t.html

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v744n4/worst-wellness-trend-2010s-bracket

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/06/exercise-health-move-all-day-standing-desk#img-2