A week ago, I decided to make the switch to a standing desk. Mostly because it seemed like every day I was hearing another report on how bad it is to sit all day long. And with the mad rush of things that have to happen when we get home at night, once it's all over I tend to veg out on the couch. So I'm not exactly leaving the office to run a marathon or anything. And lately, they say that sitting is an independent risk factor for all sorts of bad stuff... so anyway, I thought I'd give standing a try.
Of course my first stop was Pinterest. It only took a few months of pining for fancy stand-up desks and contemplating Ikea hacks before I was ready.
The pre-standing setup was a pretty typical cube. L-shaped desk with the monitors in the corner and the keyboard on a pull-out from below the desk thing. Leather highback chair, relatively comfortable. The problem is that I often need to write, write, write at work. So I can easily sit, sit, sit for hours at a time without changing position at all. And everyone I really work with is 1-2 cubes away from me, so sometimes we'd roll our chairs out to the walkway to chat. So I could really sit almost all day without noticing it.
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| I used to have a chair (Featuring my cube-neighbor's sweet pup Ramona and Evelyn - two good Saturday work companions) |
There was this night last week when, try as I might, sleep was just not going to happen. So I scoured the garage and spotted our cast-away LACK coffee table. We got it a couple years ago for free, using the credit you get for using a debit card to buy a ton of stuff at Ikea. We haven't used it since Evelyn was mobile, in order to open up space for the kids to dance and play in the living room. So at 2 AM, I loaded that puppy in the fit and headed to the office. I carted it up to my cube and THANK GOODNESS IT FIT because you know I sure didn't measure anything beforehand.
I've been working at the stand-up desk for just over a week now, and things are going quite well! I have at least one meeting pretty much every day, so there's always a break in there somewhere. And I have a rolling file cabinet with a cushion on top so if I want to sit to read an article or something, that's an option in the cube too. I also usually switch into socks and my stability running shoes, which go really well with skirts and dresses, right?
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| Thumbs-up for Standing! |
I read that the first week is the worst as far as aches and pains go, just from adjusting to standing so much. But it hasn't really been bad at all. I do appreciate sitting when I first get to a meeting, which probably helps me stay focused in meetings. Sometimes my legs are a bit tired in the evenings, but nothing really noticeable. So far, so good!
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