LEARN/ELEVA

Discover the impact of eleva in your day to day.

Our body is made to move.

We have 360 ​​joints and about 700 muscles that allow us to move in extraordinary ways. Our blood needs movement to circulate, our cells benefit from the activity and our skin is elastic to adapt to that rhythm. Everything seems to be ready for movement, except us.

Implementing new habits into your day can help you reduce the adverse effects of this lifestyle. And yes, it all starts by elevating your space.

Musculoskeletal pain relief

The pressure on the intervertebral discs in the lower back increases significantly when we are sitting.

For example, when we sit upright without back support, the pressure on the discs in the lower back increases by 140% compared to the pressure that area has when we are standing.

In addition, sitting increases ligament stress and can place a greater local load on muscles and tendons, increasing the risk of pain, discomfort, strain, and injury associated with postural stress disorders, joint compression, and tissue injury. soft (muscles, tendons and ligaments).

The time we spend sitting at work is linked to neck and shoulder pain. Poor working posture can cause increased muscle tension in the neck and shoulders. When we overload these muscles, the pressure on the blood vessels increases. The result can be a sore neck, cold shoulder muscles and hands due to reduced blood flow, or a combination of these.

Sitting for a long time can cause muscle soreness and stiff joints in the legs. In addition, it can cause a buildup of fluid in the veins that can cause discomfort and pain.

Disease prevention

Prolonged sitting is also associated with other health risks, such as decreased cardiovascular health (including vascular function, circulation and blood pressure problems, and heart disease), cancer, diabetes, increased weight, metabolic syndromes, muscle wasting, osteoporosis and a higher mortality rate.

Diabetes and cardiovascular health.

The crux seems to be in the leg muscles, the largest in the human body. When you sit, you hardly use these muscles. This increases the concentration of fats and decreases insulin sensitivity (which causes sugars to be absorbed into the blood). Both processes (called fatigue and saccharification) play an important role in the development of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Mood improvement: stress, anxiety and depression

Maintaining a sedentary lifestyle can negatively affect healthy psychological functioning. Various studies show that depressed mood improves with physical activity.

Establishing dynamic work habits can help reduce work stress, improve mood as well as increase cognitive level. In short, it helps us feel inspired and motivated in our day to day.

Boosts productivity and creativity

In addition to the physique, working standing up helps the brain. As a consequence, it provides greater concentration and decreases mental fatigue.

By modifying the position, the body is more predisposed to creativity, to communicate easily and to have greater concentration. -European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

Spend only 50% or less of the workday sitting down.

Take breaks and get up every 20-30 minutes.

Do not spend more than 1 hour standing in the same place.

ERGONOMICS

Optimize the ergonomics of your workspace

Ergonomics in all your positions

It is important that the table adapts to you, and not the other way around. Make sure that your elbows form a 90º angle with the table, both standing and sitting, and that your head looks forward, to do this, check that your chin does not look down or up.

Improve the work we do sitting and standing, and make it dynamic

It is not just about working sitting or standing, it is about alternating these positions and keeping the body active within them. There are many ways to sit in a chair and many ways to stand at your table.


When you are going to be sitting, try to maintain active positions, practice dynamic sitting by moving your body while you are in the chair. In turn, when you stand up, try to find variations in your posture, shifting your weight from one leg to the other, taking small steps on the spot or varying your support with a high stool, in this way you will continue to contract the leg muscles. , which will increase blood flow.

References:

Preventing musculoskeletal disorders when teleworking. 2022. Available at: https://healthy-workplaces.eu/en/publications/preventing-musculoskeletal-disorders-when-teleworking

Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders: statistics. 2020. Available at: https://healthy-workplaces.eu/en/publications/work-related-musculoskeletal-disorders-msds-statistics

Get moving at work. 2021. Available at: https://healthy-workplaces.eu/en/publications/get-moving-work

BeUpstanding: https://beupstanding.com.au/

Up and Down – Up and Down: https://www.baua.de/DE/Angebote/Publikationen/Praxis/A65.html?
__blob=publicationFile&v=9


Physical activity at the workplace: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/9fc2b8a0-e537-11e7-9749-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-56006094

EU-OSHA – European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. OSHwiki article (Musculoskeletal disorders and static postures when sitting for prolonged periods): https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/

Musculoskeletal_disorders_and_prolonged_static_sitting

EU-OSHA – European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. OSHwiki article (Promoting movement and exercise at work to avoid prolonged standing or sitting): https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/Promoting_moving_and_exercise_at_work_to_avoid_prolonged_standing_and_sitting

EU-OSHA – European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, 'Work-related MSDs: prevalence, costs and demographics in the EU Final report', 2019. Available at: https://osha.europa.eu/de/publications/ summary-msds-facts-and-figures-overview-prevalence-costs-and-demographics-msds-europe

Sedentary behavior and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality, and incident type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and dose response meta-analysis. 2018. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29589226/

Breaking up workplace sitting time with intermittent standing boots improves fatigue and musculoskeletal discomfort in overweight/obese office workers. 2014. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25168375/

Ergonomics and the standing desk. 2018. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29865102/

Creativity in Motion: Examining the Creative Potential System and Enriched Movement Activities as a Way to Ignite It. 2021. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34659006/