Standing desks have made a few appearances over at the New York Times as of late.
The first article, “Stand Up While You Read This!“, details the dangers of sitting for too long and the benefits of making the change to a standing desk and getting more exercise and movement into your everyday routine. It goes into detail regarding the medical reasons that inactivity is bad for the body, and the metabolic rate changes associated with it.
So what’s wrong with sitting?
…the first is that sitting is one of the most passive things you can do. You burn more energy by chewing gum or fidgeting than you do sitting still in a chair. Compared to sitting, standing in one place is hard work. To stand, you have to tense your leg muscles, and engage the muscles of your back and shoulders; while standing, you often shift from leg to leg. All of this burns energy.
The second article, “Can’t Sit Too Long? There’s a Desk for That“, reviews a few custom standing desks created by companies such as GeekDesk and Anthro. The author describes hsi experience with standing desks and the transfer from standing to sitting.
…I discovered the adjustable-height desk. These so-called “sit/stand” models are equipped with an electric motor that lets them shift from chair height to person height at the push of a button. Unfortunately, they’re regarded as specialty furniture. Sit/stand desks tend to be expensive, hard to find and not very easy to test in person. That’s too bad. I got my hands on an adjustable-height desk a few weeks ago, and I can’t stop raving about it.