Mary Hanrahan
Taking a Stand ... For Your Health
Think about how much you sit throughout the day. If you have a typical 8-5 office job, you’re most likely sitting at your desk most of those hours.
When you’re not at your desk, you’re sitting in your car to and from work. After work, you get home, eat dinner (sitting), and take a seat on the couch for the rest of the evening.
The idea that sitting too much is unhealthy is not a recent discovery, but more articles keep coming out about how unhealthy sitting truly is and what it’s doing to our overall health. Check out this infographic to get the full picture.
What’s an average working person to do?
A couple of UNM Health Sciences Center employees found their answer to that question in the form of a standing work station.
Sarah Sanders, RN, MS, exercise scientist, and Mary Hanrahan, communications coordinator, work at the Prevention Research Center and have started this trend among their employees of creating standing work stations.
Sarah Sanders, RN, MS
They didn’t go out and buy standing work stations – some of those tend to be a little pricey. Instead, they got creative and used what they had available such as empty boxes, milk crates, anything that would help them elevate their computers to a standing level.
If you’re going to create a standing work station, it needs to be set up where you can easily transition from sitting to standing throughout the day and it’s at the right height.
Sarah and Mary said they had to build up to standing for longer periods of time. Both have worked up to standing one hour to an hour and a half with short sitting breaks in between.
What are the benefits?
Mary said that she has lost weight. She’s been eating right and exercising, but she thinks the standing has really helped with her weight loss, too.
Sarah said she’s more alert and energized throughout her work day. Many of her co-workers using a standing work station said the same thing. They have seen an increase in their energy level especially in the afternoon when so many of us with desk jobs have a tough time staying alert and focused.
Sarah and Mary have given some presentations about the standing work station around campus and are planning to do more. If anyone has questions in the mean time, you can contact them. They’ll give you the full scoop on how to take a stand for your health!
*Author’s note: This article was written while standing.