Making the Move to a Standing Desk

Ilan Mocharia, a senior writer at Inc. wrote a great piece yesterday entitled 7 Things to Know about Switching to a Standing Desk. To read full article on Inc.com click here.

While it is undeniable that standing is way better for us than sitting for extended periods of times, standing all day is not a panacea. I’ll outline the takeaways from Ian’s article and then add my own observations.

The upside

Be careful sitters, you may just learn you enjoy standing. For Ian standing became enjoyable and actually tuckered him out a little. He found himself sleeping better, waking earlier and observed a nice boost in productivity.

The downside

Your feet will start to hurt, you may feel stiff and sore, you will experience end of the day fatigue. There is also this crazy notion that if you have a standing desk you are required to stand all day. 

My two cents

I fully support whatever gets us up and moving throughout the day, but let’s not give sitting such a bad rap. Who doesn’t enjoy going to the movies on a Friday night and sitting though the latest blockbuster eating a bucket of popcorn? Please still do this. I enjoy nothing more than going to the beach after work, sitting in the sand and watching the sunset. Road trips, long dinners, curling up with a book, don’t stop any of this!

What does any of this have to do with you?

You get to decide how to incorporate movement into your life. You also don’t have to feel guilty about sitting. You can choose a standing desk option, a trip to the water cooler to get moving and stay hydrated, you can choose walking meetings, or maybe a mid-day yoga class does the trick. My personal favorite is early morning walks with my dog. As long as you keep moving your body will thank you.