To counteract the ill effects of sedentary (from the Latin sedentārius: sitting) jobs, manufacturers are beginning to offer standing desks. Actually, they aren’t new. According to Wikipedia, standing desks were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries in the homes of the rich.
Furthermore, some of the world’s most talented writers wrote while standing. We’re talking Hemingway, Nabokov, Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland), and Thomas Wolfe.
Novelist Philip Roth, a great living writer (Portnoy’s Complaint), stands at a lectern to write and paces while he thinks, claiming to walk half a mile for every page he writes.
Who knows? Maybe writing while standing is what helped the most in manifesting their genius. It certainly seems to be better for the brain than sitting (see my previous post mentioning that movement of the sacrum pumps cerebro-spinal fluid, which nourishes the brain). We use the figure of speech “think on your feet” to talk about a present, active, smarter way of thinking.
Perhaps before making the switch to a standing desk, you’re wondering how many more calories you would burn by standing instead of sitting. Here’s a calculator where you enter your weight and hours worked to find out the extra calories burned at a standing desk versus sitting. I’d burn 221 more calories. That’s significant over time. I could lose a few extra pounds and then eat a little more!
Adapting to a standing desk may take a week or so. Your feet may hurt from standing all day. You may be extra tired at first. Some people who’ve made the switch swear by a cushioned mat, like this writer, who had an adjustable IKEA Jerker desk (unfortunately discontinued) and switched it to standing mode. She writes about adjusting to it, which took her three days, and later using a mat and a footrest.
Hairstylists and cashiers know good mats for standing…
Of course, the least expensive way to create a standing desk is to simply put boxes, crates, or shelves on top of your regular desk and arrange your keyboard and monitor on them.
IKEA sells the least expensive standing desk that I found online, the Fredrik workstation for $119. There’s a wider version for $149. Assembly required, of course…
Then there are the IKEA hackers — people who repurpose IKEA products to make what they want. Here’s an inexpensive conversion using PVC pipe.
Here’s another hack, the wide standing desk.
This article shows a couple of adjustable-height desks that allow users to flip a switch to adjust the height. This sounds great, if you’re willing to pay $700 plus. Apparently when people start being productive at work, they raise the desktop to standing level.
Finally, here is a website devoted to creating your own treadmill desk. If you already have a treadmill, apparently you can do this for as little as $39, a significant savings over the top-of-the-line Steelcase Walkstation at $4,399, shown below.
