As you read this, ask yourself a question: Are you sitting or standing? If you’re sitting, think about how many total hours of your day you typically spend doing so. Six? Seven? If the majority of your day is spent sitting, there may be a simple way to improve your overall health and increase your productivity.

The popularity of standing desks in the workplace has been rising rapidly — and not without reason. These taller desks offer an easy way to stand and move about while you work rather than sit in a chair.

Let’s get into some specific, maybe even unexpected, benefits that using a standing desk could offer you.

1. Extra Energy

Let’s be honest, we all could use some extra bursts of energy throughout the day. Standing inherently promotes more movement, and more activity and can make you feel more awake and alert. If you feel like you might have a hard time incorporating this change, start small — try standing for just 30 minutes a day, then bump it up to an hour or more when it feels right.

2. Better Posture

Most of us find it easy to lean into a slouched posture while sitting at a desk for multiple hours in a row. Simply standing to correct this isn’t enough, though — to get the most out of a standing desk, your elbows should be able to rest at a 90-degree angle, and your screen should be positioned at or just below your eye level. This will help you maintain good posture and allow for longer, more comfortable standing durations.

3. Lower Blood Pressure

Standing as opposed to sitting or lying down correlates with lower blood pressure, which in turn can help prevent strokes, heart failure, heart disease, and many other health conditions.

4. Reduced Stress

Sitting for too long, especially at your work desk, doesn’t allow enough movement and builds stress on not only your body but your brain as well. And living a physically inactive lifestyle has been linked to higher levels of anxiety and depression. Standing up and getting a little movement in is a small step you can take to reduce any stress, both mental and physical, that might build up throughout the day.

As nice as all of these benefits sound, what if you don’t have access to a standing desk?

Thankfully, there are some handy alternatives out there that can get the job done all the same:

• Laptop/monitor stand
• Ironing board
• Bookshelf

All this considered, remember that too much of a good thing is still possible! No one wants to stand for eight hours straight. So if you decide to try out a standing desk or one of the above alternatives, make sure you still have a place to sit and switch between positions for short periods throughout the day, keeping yourself active and well-rested.

Happy standing!

Here at Reynolds, we like to stay active, from company-sponsored fun runs and walks to in-office gyms. Interested in learning more? Visit our careers page.