The future workplace: new technologies designed to get us moving

Albert Einstein did some of his best thinking walking around campus. The Queen of England discusses national matters with Prime Ministers as they take a turn about the gardens at Buckingham Palace. Malcolm Turnbull has a standing desk in his Parliamentary office. If the genius and powerful have ditched sitting all day, there must be an excellent reason why we should all follow suit.

Firstly we need to understand that the human body evolved to survive in the natural world. Historians have deduced that our ancestors spent their years walking across continents, hunting animals, or farming the lands by the Tigris. Sitting? Well, that was done around the campfire or basket-weaving, but never for 8 hours a day while staring at a screen.

News websites around the world are adamant that sitting will kill us, slowly but surely. For example, the Washington Post quotes research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology: 123,000 adults followed over 14 years showed those who sat more than six hours a day were at least 18 percent more likely to die than those who sat less than three hours a day. And this is but one source of alarming statistics.

There are solutions and improvements to the sedentary crisis which have been very popular with early adopters that will hopefully make a wider impact on offices globally. Standing desks are a good start.

Get up, stand up!
The trick is not to stand all day – prolonged stillness works against the body – but alternate between sitting and standing frequently throughout the day. A lot of stand desks are easily adjustable so you can moved it with your mood. (And let’s not forget that standing burns 30% more calories than sitting!) While you wait for your boss to deck out the office in standing desks, simply find an appropriate standing workspace to use for tablet or mobile tasks and phone calls. Retreat to your seat when it’s time to check emails. Take a look at various options here.

Have a little lie down…
While we have been talking about the benefits of standing at work, the AltDesk is a desk that lets you work away at your computer lying down. The best example of this lying down workstation is actually is able to switch from lying to sitting, standing, and a collaborative workspace. This spaceship of workstations is on video here. Apparently it was originally designed for highly caffeinated computer coders working day and night. For people with no pertinent health issues, moving between its different positions regularly throughout the day will engage your back and core muscles in different way and prevent tension building in the neck and shoulders as with a normal desk.

Or what if your screen moves, and you follow?
In Canada a new company has launched the Smartpod. While it is yet to reach Australian shores it is a computerised workstation can be set up to look like your normal desk, whether you have one screen, two screens or ten, and once you input your personal data and movement goals, it will slowly move the screens and keyboards forwards and backwards, up and down, while you work. The hook with this product is that it eliminates barrier most people face when transitioning to sit/stand workstations which is the conscious thought and effort which needs to go into alternating positions throughout the day. It takes care of all this for you while letting you quietly get about your day. Watch the video on the Smartpods website to see it in action.

How the education system is embracing this upright approach to learning
Our last example directs you to an NBC report. One American elementary school trialled standing desks for students. They were so overwhelmingly popular the parents fundraised to get them for the entire school.  Built with energetic young kids in mind they include a special feature called a “fidget bar” which lets kids swing their legs and use up their excess energy. It sounds like enough fun to get adults involved too. The kids have access to a stool whenever they get tired.

The fact you are seated means mortal danger is upon you, if incrementally. The thing is, our culture equates a good worker with one who is at their desk tapping away at the keys. Unfortunately culture is  hard to challenge, even when our health is at stake. But this change must happen en masse if we want to live long, healthy lives. Workplace technology designed for humans has arrived. But, it’s up to us to use it. Standing defends against heart disease, keeps off the calories and wards off mortality. Today might be the day to start trialling a new way of working.

Further reading:

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/california-school-children-step-standing-desks-n449496
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/16/AR2010101602903.html
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/standing-desks-arent-the-silver-bullet-to-get-people-moving-20151026-gkii4m.html
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/standing-desks-tea-cups-and-happy-snaps-inside-malcolm-turnbulls-new-office-20151025-gki9wr.html
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/forget-standing-desks-this-one-lets-you-work-lying-down-20151029-gkmg96.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-04/tips-for-working-at-a-standing-desk/6908666