Stand up desks have been used to counteract back pain and improve productivity for years, but there might be a more important reason to consider changing the way you work. A recent study suggests that more time spent sitting increases mortality risk regardless of physical activity. So even you exercise a lot, your health may be negatively impacted by sitting at a desk all day.
“Several factors could explain the positive association between time spent sitting and higher all cause death rates,” said Dr. Patel. “Prolonged time spent sitting, independent of physical activity, has been shown to have important metabolic consequences and may influence things like triglycerides, high density lipoprotein, cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose, resting blood pressure, and leptin, which are biomarkers of obesity and cardiovascular and other chronic diseases.”
I can’t say that I have ever noticed much back pain from sitting all day myself. However, I tend to prefer decreasing my risk of death. When I heard about this study, my stomach dropped thinking about how much time I spend sitting each day.
I decided to look into standing desks and explore some alternatives. Some of them were fairly expensive, but I feel that it’s foolish for me to not spend a little money to improve my health and possibly improve the experience that consumes most of my day.
Here is a gorgeous desk from Stilvoll that I haven’t found the price for yet. I have a feeling that if you need to ask, you might as well not.
StilVoll Crescendo C2
An uglier but utilitarian desk is available from GeekDesk.com for $799.
Geek Desk
And if you are really on a budget, Lifehacker has a $20 solution. I showed this to my girlfriend and she nearly strangled me.
Inexpensive, But Ugly Standing Desk
It’s hard to picture changing the way you work, but I for one am going to give it a try by assembling a trial version using some inexpensive cabinets and a desktop.
Update: Actually I ended up spending some money and having a custom desk built.
My Custom Built Standing Desk