Get Everything Done

Back in January, I was coming home in a taxi from the airport, when another taxi hit us in the rear-end. I felt my head get thrown back and there was no headrest in the back seat of the cab. My driver asked me if I was OK and I told him I was.

About 10 days later my neck started to hurt. At first I didn't pay it any mind. Then it got worse. I discovered that I had a lot of pain when I was sitting, second only to the pain when driving a car.

After a couple of months of pain, I finally used some logic this week and found some bricks in the rubble outside my office. I put them under my desk so I could stand at my desk all day. Today, I refined my furniture strategy and bought some concrete blocks ("cinder blocks") which will raise my desk 15.5 inches (39.4 cm).

I am now thinking I wish I hurt my neck years ago. Although the bottoms of my feet hurt a little, I think I will adapt quickly. In the meantime, it really is better to work standing up. (I only sit down for lunch at my desk.)

My web research suggests that stand-up desks are more common in Japan and Europe than in the US (I live in New York). At my job, people look at my desk in disbelief.

Does anyone else on this forum stand at their desk?

"Does anyone else on this forum stand at their desk? "

Not me, but two of my co-workers do.

Co-workers have them, but we're more progressive here in Oregon anyway

I have never seen a live person at a stand-up desk. Do Germans and Oregonians have tall chairs for their desks? Do they have adjustable-height desks or are they of fixed height? Does you company let you choose between standing and sitting desks?

Some people here prefer to stand for the ergonomic aspects. Many of the desks are adjustable, so it is not just a "stand" station, but a "sit=stand" station--the devices can be adjusted easily so the person can sit by just lowering the desk/monitor/keyboard.

Yes I have been doing this for about a month. I moved the screens from the desk to a bookshelf.

I learnt about this from reading an article some time ago about Donald Rumsfeld, who has always stood at his desk. It might also be harder to waste time this way.

You might look at drafting tables. They are often designed higher than regular desks and have stools designed to work with them.

I've read several biographies of people who worked only standing up. Yes, they saw it as far more efficient as they were continually "on the move" and did not want to stop and relax, as it were. It is particularly good if you have an office with a stand up desk and no chairs for visitors. Drop-ins can be quite short ;-)

Very interesting for someone like me, 61, currently a bit overweight which adds to increasing back problems from active sport earlier (soccer, rugby, cricket, squash, jogging, gym etc, but no regrets).

Those of you without a nice adjustable desk - probably self-employed like me - I guess you had to fine-tune the height so that your arms are at the best height for typing.

What about your moniitor, raised to have top edge level; or just below eye height? I already have an external monitor for my notebook, cuts down on neck angle.

Cheers,

Roger J,

Check out this site to figure dimensions:

http://www.ergospec.com/flash/computer_standing/index.html

Today I placed the concrete blocks under my desk and this is the ne plus ultra. My desk is not adjustable, but it seems to be the perfect height. The top of the standard monitor is just below eye level. I covered my concrete blocks with black fabric.

My experience so far is that I feel more productive, it's better for my spine, and my feet will take some time to adjust. I have no desire to lose weight, but there are numerous reports of weight loss among stand-up desk users. The weight was regained when they changed employers and were forced to return to their seats.

If God had wanted us to sit, She would have given us chairs.

I have built and used a standing desk for years. Back problems forced me to look for solutions. The standing desk has become the most important part of my work support system. I have a standing desk in my two offices and at my home office. I believe I think clearer when I am at my standing desk. People do tend to freak out about the standing desk so I have a normal height desk for meetings or when I need to sit. I tried having a stool/chair for the standing desk but that aggravated my lower back. It does take some time to develop the "strength" to stand for long periods so I find I will build up to longer and longer periods of standing. I now can stand for 3-4 hours easily. If using a computer it is best to get the monitor raised to eye level as well. There are pictures of the famous film editor Walter Murch's standing desk he uses to edit films. There is a long history of distinguished people who worked at standing desks and there are some amazing bespoke furniture makers who build exquisite standing desks. I have always built my own but one day I will buy my fantasy desk that costs about 10k. About 1 in 10 of the people who see my standing desk go out and build or buy their own and thank me for changing their lives. I have my desk height at 42.75 inches which is the measurement from my elbow when my arm is relaxed in the typing position. Having said all of this about the benefits of the standing desk I have learned that posture is probably the most important factor in doing any kind of desk work. Or countertop, or workbench. No desk or chair can keep you from adopting bad posture habits that will always lead to spinal problems. Even I have found myself "slouching" at my standing desk.

I'm very interested in standing desks. I have a mind to build one myself, but I have some questions for those who already use one:

1) How do you handle computer usage? It seems that the height that I'd want my monitors at would be too high up to use a keyboard comfortably. Also, it seems like there's not right height at which to use a mouse.

2) Has anyone tried a standing desk with a treadmill underneath? This I also wonder how it works with walking and typing at the same time.

@Wellington,

1) As Stark pointed out, you want to make the height of the desk equal to the height of your elbows when your forearms are parallel to the floor. If you do this, the keyboard and mouse will be in comfortable positions. Likewise, the top of my monitor is about 4 inches below my eye level, which is also good. From the link that I posted above, you don't want the top of the monitor to go above eye level.

2) I have only been at this for 4 days, but I do not have any plans to get a treadmill. I have, however, found that I do shift around quite a bit.

@Stark,

Thanks for the very informative post. I admire anyone who has the skills to build their own. I was quite lucky to find that standard concrete blocks (discretely covered in black fabric) put my desk at exactly 44 inches, which is right level with my elbows.

So far, I've managed to avoid any sitting this week, except for when I eat lunch. The eating takes about 20 minutes. So I am standing from 7:25 am to 5:15 pm.

I have seen a number of electrically powered adjustable height desks, but most of them were less than 10K (were you referring to US dollars)?

Is it good or bad to be "on the frontiers of fitness?"

See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18exercise-t.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all

<<Streaming through much of the science and advice about exercise and weight loss is a certain Puritan streak, a sense that exercise, to be effective in keeping you slim, must be of almost medicinal dosage — an hour a day, every day; plenty of brisk walking; frequent long runs on the treadmill. But the very latest science about exercise and weight loss has a gentler tone and a more achievable goal. “Emerging evidence suggests that ­unlike bouts of moderate-vigorous activity, low-intensity ambulation, standing, etc., may contribute to daily energy expenditure without triggering the caloric compensation effect,” Braun wrote in the American College of Sports Medicine newsletter.

In a completed but unpublished study conducted in his energy-metabolism lab, Braun and his colleagues had a group of volunteers spend an entire day sitting. If they needed to visit the bathroom or any other location, they spun over in a wheelchair. Meanwhile, in a second session, the same volunteers stood all day, “not doing anything in particular,” Braun says, “just standing.” The difference in energy expenditure was remarkable, representing “hundreds of calories,” Braun says, but with no increase among the upright in their blood levels of ghrelin or other appetite hormones. Standing, for both men and women, burned multiple calories but did not ignite hunger. One thing is going to become clear in the coming years, Braun says: if you want to lose weight, you don’t necessarily have to go for a long run. “Just get rid of your chair.”

Gretchen Reynolds writes the Phys Ed column for the magazine. She is writing a book about the frontiers of fitness.>>

I read this NYT as well and have cleared my stand up desk.

I have had a standing desk for a few years now. I put it at 45", which is an inch or so above elbow height. This supports the elbows for typing with the back straight. Any lower, and I tended to bend forward and got a sore back. Ideally the desk would be adjustable, to allow finding the correct height by experiment.
I alternate between standing and sitting at the same desk. This required a 34" stool (higher than most bar stools) to allow the same elbow height when seated as when standing.
Other advantages: the increased mobility is great for tasks such as sorting papers. There is plenty of space under the desk for the printer and the PC so they effectively disappear from the home office. And it seems to encourage alertness as it is more difficult to doze off when you are standing up!

Mark, I think you'd find that at a standing desk you are rarely truly standing still. :^D

I find that when I'm working standing, I'm very likely to wander around while I ponder something, or while a document loads or something like that. I definitely spend less time just standing in one spot than I do with my rear in a chair when I'm working seated. If that makes sense.

I enjoyed having a standing desk at my previous job. It was one I could adjust automatically with a press of a button to my ideal standing height and my ideal sitting height.

When leaving the job, this was one of the key things I missed, that and the great colleagues.

The flexible desk was just so great. It's such a relief to be able to alternate between the two. I also found standing was more suited for some types of work, like making a series of telephone calls or things that required more 'active thought'.

Standing desks have emerged as the fastest growing employee benefit in U.S. workplaces, according to a June report from the Society for Human Resource Management. Companies like Apple, Netflix, Google, and Dell are 40% more productive than the average company, according to research from the leadership consulting firm Bain & Company.

Google offers standing desks as part of its employee-wellness program. That means that any employee looking out for his or her health can choose to work at a standing desk. Facebook has more than 250 employees using standing desks, as employees have been asking for them after medical reports described the health concerns of sitting for extended periods.

I was first introduced to the idea of standing desks months earlier when visiting a friend in Los Angeles and saw her husband’s standing desk setup in his home office, that he had purchased from Yo-Yo DESK® with an anti-fatigue mat . He stood at his desk all day, doing the yoga tree pose in between to give one of his legs a break. He loved it and told me that his posture had improved.

I was sold. My lower back and my shoulders always felt tight at the end of the day and I usually felt fatigued on my way home from the office even though I eat fairly well and exercise regularly.

On the first day, I definitely felt that my body was protesting from standing for several hours. My legs felt numb and my lower back felt tired. But I persisted, and with using the standing desk came the natural inclination to avoid slouching. I kept reminding myself to march in place, do side bends and stretches and sometimes even squats.

Since I was already standing I found that I walked around the office more, taking more frequent, short breaks. Soon, I was okay skipping my monthly lower back massages.

https://yo-yodesk.com/collections/yoyo-classic

spooky

I did a Google-trawl and wrote a blog post about it in 2015 if anyone is interested in the state of the literature at that time (https://www.brownstudy.info/blog/2015/05/05/a-links-round-up-on-standing-desks-and-how-people-use-them-or-dont):

Bottom-line: Variety is the spice: mix standing and sitting, don’t do too much of either, move regularly. I was surprised by the observations from some writers about the types of work best done sitting vs. standing.

My solution was to saw down the legs on a £4.99 table from Ikea, and place it on top of my regular desk. It's a good size to hold monitor on stand, keyboard and notebook etc. Very simple to place it on the desk for a couple of hours at a time, which really helps to keep my energy alert.