Everything you need to know about an ergonomic stool
Kudos to you if you have recently gotten yourself an ergonomic stool. If you’re still just thinking about buying one, here are some of the main benefits that an ergonomic stool can have. A little background: believe it or not, sitting in a chair is not some sort of inherently human behavior, such as walking. Chairs are so commonplace today in workplaces (and everywhere else, especially in the West) that we tend to take the idea of the chair being a natural resting place for the human bum for granted.
In many places throughout the world, and depending on your lifestyle and vocation, chairs don’t play as much of a dominant role in people’s lives, though. This is all to say that, of course, sitting in a chair is generally comfortable, but it’s not the only way to be seated. Kneeling chairs, ergonomic stools and other ways of having better posture and staying more active while sitting are not a new idea. The widespread use of chairs — and especially the chronically sedentary lifestyle of the average office worker in an industrialized country — those are new practices. The rise of preventable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes type 2, and stroke is also new. Hm…
The point of this digression is that if you have an ergonomic stool or are thinking of buying one, maybe don’t think of it as secondary or “an alternative” to your chair. Most of us were raised sitting in chairs, but there are a lot of other ways of doing things that have health benefits that we have been deprived of by relying so heavily on chairs. Now, let’s dive into ergonomic stools in particular.
First, an ergonomic stool is one that allows secure movement while you’re perched on it, basically. It also needs to be properly padded on the seat and ideally have sloping edges, to avoid cutting off circulation in your legs while sitting. In order to allow movement while you are seated, the base of the stool should be heavy and have an outer layer of rubber or something that provides sufficient traction. You should be able to lean forward (to a reasonable degree) on your stool and lift one leg off the ground without feeling like it’s going to shoot out behind you. Otherwise your body will build up significant tension while you are seated because you are unstable.
If you use your stool to do more than just sit in one central position (as you would in a chair, except here you are lacking the support for your back) you are somewhere between sitting and standing and you will get a nice combination of comfort while keeping your metabolism from slowing down. Ergonomic stools are especially useful for people who stand while working, as most of them have a height range that allows for you to simply sit back and perch for a while on your stool if your feet tire. This gives you a huge leg up over those who have to choose between full on sitting or standing, because you can easily take a short break without even lowering your desk.
If you make it easy for yourself to comfortably rest for a bit without changing your position entirely, you will be more likely to stand back up and continue working. Studies and anecdotal reports have shown that standing for very long periods of time can actually cause a different host of health problems from sitting (albeit less life-threatening but still problematic). You can avoid placing too much strain on your legs, feet and back by occasionally resting on an ergonomic stool. Changing positions slightly is also beneficial to your body, as you naturally use muscles and get a quick bump in your metabolism when you move.
The most interesting and exciting benefit of ergonomic stools is that, when used properly, they engage the same core muscles that we use when walking (and some leg muscles, but not to the same extent, obviously). One of the major drawbacks of sitting for extended periods of time, besides the heightened risk for potentially deadly diseases, that most concerns medical professionals is how weak the average modern person’s core muscles are. While sitting, the muscles that we use in our abdomen and back that support our upright posture go slack. This goes way beyond having “tight abs”. Unfortunately an ergonomic stool is probably not the key to a six pack, but actually those muscles are only a few of the many important muscles that make up your core. In fact, most holistic trainers would not recommend simply building up abdominal muscle while neglecting the rest of your core.
Core muscles, which include your back, side, pelvic, abdominal and gluteal muscles, keep us stable and upright. Strong and balanced core muscles can prevent back pain, the single leading cause of disability worldwide. Having a weak, neglected core also contributes to a slower metabolism. Convinced yet? Also, don’t forget that simply exercising in high-intensity spurts after sitting for extended periods of time does not match the benefits that engaging your core muscles throughout the day does. In fact some research has show that exercise is only good for you if you sit less. So, no, you can’t just do sit ups after work and expect a strong core.
This is the main reason that ergonomic stools are recommended. While perched at a forward tilt with good posture on an ergonomic stool you can be both comfortable (which helps when focusing on work) and keep your core muscles engaged in a similar fashion to how they would be working if you were standing or walking. It’s not a magic bullet but it’s a beautiful compromise between sedentary and active.
Another lesser-known benefit of ergonomic stools is actually that they can help some people focus more than sitting in a chair does. Not only because your circulation is better, your metabolism is higher and some of your muscles are more engaged, but also because some people simply need to fidget when they focus. If that’s not you, you know the type. Some people need to keep themselves physically occupied while using their mind. If you were the kid that got scolded for doodling while listening to lectures, you’re (probably) not absent minded, you just have some extra energy that needs to be expended in order for you to give your full mental attention. An ergonomic stool might be a game-changer for you.
This may also be something to try for those of us who have given standing desks a go and didn’t like it. Some people just need to sit to focus. So if you still want to stay active and you need to be comfortably seated to focus, try an ergonomic stool. It gives you the comfort and stability of a chair while still challenging your muscles to stay engaged. It may feel strange a first, but once you get used to it the longterm benefits are totally worth it.
One caveat: research has shown that yoga balls, while some people like them, do not have the same benefits to posture and metabolism as ergonomic stools. They are more unstable and may actually make it harder to maintain good posture. They are fun though.
