An option to stand
Where you work, do you spend most of your time sitting or standing? Do you have the option to switch from one to the other?
Don’t worry, this isn’t going to become a lecture on how sitting all day is killing us and negating any exercise we do, ever (we’ve already discussed that!).
My day job is actually in office design, and it excites me that one of the current popular trends is adjustable work-height desks. So, throughout the day, you can move the height of your work surface so you can sit or stand (sometimes this is a function of the desk itself, and sometimes, it’s something you put on your desk, and sit your laptop on).
I really hope this trend sticks around, because I like the idea of being able to adjust how I am working. In fact, I do it now, at the office and at home. Neither place is fancy enough to have a moveable desk height (manual or automatic), but I have bar height surfaces at both locations that I do use when I feel like standing – typically in the afternoon at home, and last week, at work when I realized how sore I was from my self-inflicted DOMS. Ha ha.
Chair for Data to use to keep me company
Now, just don’t ask me how I feel about the trend of treadmill desks… I still need to try one before I can form an opinion. Yeah, that’s it!
Themocracy
I both sit, and stand at work. Thankfully there are always slides to deliver, meetings to attend, etc so I am not just sitting all day. I average 8-10k steps per day just with walking at work!
That’s great you get so many steps in at work!
I agree!!! Although I am pretty sore today, so I could use a few less steps, LOL!! I know in the end it’s best to keep moving!
I would love an adjustable desk, but my company says that they are too expensive. And a treadmill desk would be dangerous for me. I’m not that coordinated!
Bummer! Keep asking!
Ha ha, they speed setting is soooo low, I think you’d have to be trying to fall off! 😛
If I HAD the option, I would 100% be on board with a standing desk. As it…um…stands (hah), that’s not realistic for my office setup, but let me tell you, just about ANYTHING would be better than my current situation (which involves a desk that resembles what most of my teachers had in elementary school coupled with a chair that’s permanently stuck on its lowest setting and can’t be moved up. In order to type, my arms have to be at a 45-degree bend, or I have to put my keyboard on my lap. My physical therapist LOVES this setup <– sarcasm. Haha). A standing desk is a nice thought, though. Maybe someday!
Your set up sounds absolutely horrible 🙁 I hope they change it some day!
A few years ago there were a few people who requested standing desk; now my firm is installing them on virtually everyone’s desk. I’ve been hesitant to ask for one, mainly cause I’m short enough that I really only need to raise my monitor and keyboard about 3 or 4 inches, so I felt bad asking for the whole mechanical setup that is usually utilized to raise it a foot or so. At this point I’m just waiting it out to become mandatory (seriously, I think if I wait another year or so they’ll put it on my desk whether I want it or not), and then I think it’ll probably be nice to have the option.
That is so great they are offering it! Get it now!!! LOL
I LOVE my new standing desk! I just love the option to either sit or stand whenever I want.
Although I did find one annoying thing – there is a guy that comes in twice a week to pick up our dry cleaning and he feels the need to comment on whether I’m sitting or standing each day. Sigh.
I love that Data keeps you company – I’m excited to see him this weekend!!!
I love hearing that you love it! 😀 Ha ha ha. You know… anyone who always feels the need to make the same commment… annoys me. I should make a list of these.
Data is preparing to whore out to you for muchos attention!
Sitting all day is the one sure way for my legs to get sore, especially after a morning run. After a morning run on the weekends when I hardly sit down afterwards my legs feel fantastic.
I totally agree – after my long run two Saturdays ago, I stood at the bar in our kitchen for about 4 hours and felt so great!
I noticed that they ordered an adjustable desk topper for one girl in another department. I need to ask her how she got that! I would LOVE a standing desk.
I hope you find out and get one! 🙂
I spend most of my day on my feet, seeing patients. In between, when I have a minute, I sit on a stool to chart, usually with both feet on the ground. In my old clinic, I’d stand at a writing desk to chart between patients. I actually don’t mind being on my feet most of the day. But I do wear my Danskos every day! No more fashionable shoes for me…
I was going to ask what type of shoes you’d have to wear to be comfortable for that! 🙂 I want to get a pad at home to stand on, cause my feet get sore – so silly that they do!
Sitting for sure. I have avoided getting a personal printer for my office because at least then I have to get up and move to get stuff off the printer!
They JUST renovated our office – like, 2 weeks ago! – and every workstation in the whole place is now sit/stand. It’s awesome! I usually switch to standing around 2:30 or 3pm, right around when I usually lose a lot of energy and want to take a nap. Standing is a great antidote to that 🙂
Ha ha! Yes, I understand that 100% 😉 How cool they renovated it!!!!
I work at my dining room table. But what I’d really like is an exercise ball to sit on when I work from my coffee table (where the TV is, haha).
I wish I had that option, but we have really OLD desktops at work.
I sit all day at work. Depending on my workout the day before, sometimes it’s good and other times bad lol
I really wish that more companies would embrace this healthy mentality. I can especially see how sitting all day has negatively affected my parents’ health. It would make me so happy to see more workplaces taking a bigger standpoint on employee health!
I can sit or stand. I have 2 monitors, one at sitting height and the other at standing height that I adjust to aim down if I am sitting. I’d say about 150 of our 350 employees have a similar set up and there are keyboard stands everywhere. We also have stability balls to sit on throughout the office. It’s nice to have the option and I keep having intentions of standing more but I end up only standing for a little bit. Gotta get better at that.
Whoa! Your office sounds super progressive! Woo hoo! Where do you work, if you don’t mind me asking?
I work at a proprietary trading firm and our CEO is a triathlete so we have a pretty “healthy” office environment. I’m actually standing right now!
I always kind of giggle on the inside when people talk about the need for a standing desk or a treadmill desk…since some days at work I don’t sit down at all! Luckily that’s not the norm, but nurses spend a lot of time on their feet so I definitely don’t need another reason to stand. I do realize that this isn’t what the office world is like, and if I ever worked in one, I would like the option to be active.