Stand up for yourself

Did you know that by simply standing you can lose weight? The desk jobs are filling your pockets, but sapping your health in return! While you can’t do anything about work, desk or the chair – you can definitely make work healthier.

A small research done by University of Chester, as reported by BBC found that “if you stand for an extra three hours every day, you can burn a significant amount of calories”. In fact, an hour of standing will help you burn up to 50 calories. Of course that might not seem much, but the same burnout over a year will pull the needles of the scale down significantly. If you calculate this come out to be 30,000 calories each year, or 3.5 Kg of fat! Standing increases the heart rate by 10 beats per minute which equals a big calorie burn.

These days many companies are offering standing desks to their employees. And this change isn’t just great for health benefits, companies feel that standing desks translate into higher energy levels and focus for their employees. You also need to get up because a 2011 study found that those who sit most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of a heart attack. So you need to stand up for yourself!

So here’s what you can...or rather should be doing!

Take short breaks to walk – They are extremely efficient and works like a magical portion for health. Just get up from your seat to take a round of your office. Walking is an activity that gets your body into action. It regulates blood sugar levels, controls blood pressure and high cholesterol. Even experts say that taking short breaks from work to walk makes your mind more focused and productive. You can ensure that your entire day at work is filled with small breaks by

• Conveying meeting while standing or making it cooler by walking meetings.
• Get up while taking a phone and walk while you converse.
• Set reminders on phone for walking.
• Casual group discussions at work can be done while standing or walking.
• Personally do all small errands in office like filling your water, bringing tea etc.
• Don’t use IM for conversation. Just walk to the person and indulge in a talk.