By Savvy Auntie Staff Writer

Turns out, seated at their desks isn’t the best way for nieces and nephews to learn.

A new study from Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health and published in the International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, reports that standing desks – the kind of desks that allow students to stand or sit, are a better choice than traditional sitting desks for student attentiveness and engagement in the classroom. In fact, “preliminary results show 12 percent greater on-task engagement in classrooms with standing desks,” reports ScienceDaily.com.

Mark Benden, Ph.D., CPE, associate professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health, first studied standing desks as a way to reduce childhood obesity. His research showed that students who used standing desks increased their calorie use by 15 percent more than seated students. Moreover, obese children increased calorie use by 25 percent more when using standing desks.

But if healthy weight loss isn’t reason enough for schools and families to consider the switch to standing desks, this new study, the first to look at how standing desks might affect a child’s learning, may be even more convincing. Dr. Benden and his team discovered that standing desks supported students’ cognitive ability in class. “Standing workstations reduce disruptive behavior problems and increase students' attention or academic behavioral engagement by providing students with a different method for completing academic tasks (like standing) that breaks up the monotony of seated work," Benden said.

As the professor says: “we think better on our feet than in our seat,” so if you’re thinking about buying a standing desk for niece or nephew – or for yourself –  TheWireCutter.com  recently released a review of the best standing desks available now.

Photo: leaf
Published: April 24, 2015