Study: Standing At Your Desk Is Good For Your Brain

Sitting at a desk all day long could adversely affect your health and I’m not just talking about back pain. It can lead to even more serious issues like diabetes, heart disease and more. Being sedentary is a recipe for health disaster. No question about it.

Standing is a Better Way To Work

We know this and yet most of us continue to sit at our desks day after day.

Now a recent study has found that sitting is just as bad for your brain. I won’t make a joke about office drones, but there’s clearly some truth to this. How many co-workers do you know who are lethargic and slow as well as mentally out to lunch? This study also suggests that exercise may not help much if you sit the remainder of the time.

Check out Gadget Review’s list of Top Standing Desks.

The study in question revealed that a sedentary lifestyle goes hand in hand with a reduction in the thickness of the medial temporal lobe. That’s where your hippocampus is and this is the area responsible for memory and learning skills.

What the Standing Desk Study Looked At

The study looked at 35 healthy adults, ages 45 to 70, and questioned them about the number of hours they spent each day sitting. After that, the subjects’ brains were scanned using M.R.I. technology. It turns out that the thickness of their medial temporal lobe was related to how often they sat. Those who sat for longer periods daily were found to have the thinnest medial temporal lobes.

So basically the more you sit, the worse it is for your brain. Your learning and memory may be affected, although in what way, other than the thinning of medial temporal lobes is not clear yet. Dad always said that sitting in front of the TV would rot my brain. I guess he was right.

It has to be noted that this is not proof of a direct link. It may be that some people simply have this pre-existing problem and they just happen to be more sedentary. Although, the researchers did screen them for medical and brain issues. What this study reveals is that exercise may not help your brain very much if you lead an inactive lifestyle.

But obviously, being more active is a great idea for many other reasons. Anyway, walking and standing more often increases blood flow to our brains. Besides, going for walks can be very stimulating. More stimulating than continuing to stare at your computer, at the same old work. A stroll keeps you awake and focused. It gets your neurons firing in your noggin. It gets your blood pumping.

Stand Desks are a healthy way to work.

The point is, don’t get discouraged. Get moving instead. The simple act of standing rather than sitting is going to keep your mind and body more stimulated and alert. There’s a reason that the term, “thinking on your feet” exists. Here’s a good example:

Be healthier By Being Upright

In a test called “Stroop”, two sets of subjects were given a test while sitting and standing. The idea was to measure selective attention. They were given conflicting input, like the word “orange” printed in a blue color. They had to name the color. Sounds easy right? Well, those who were standing beat the ones that were sitting by about 32-milliseconds. They were thinking on their feet.

In fact, I think we all know that exercise has many benefits on cognition. Ask any doctor and they are likely to tell you that you should be on your feet as often as possible (maybe). This is why Standing Desks are becoming more and more common in offices around the world.

People are standing up, and therefore waking up to the benefits of standing desks. They just make sense if you are thinking about your health. You’ll find more info here.

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