Standup Desk

After reading the most recent issue of Nutrition Action Newsletter, I decided it was time to do something about my office - or more specifically, my desk. Although standing desks are nothing new (they've been around for hundreds of years), our increasingly sedentary lifestyle highlights their utility.

From the article: "People who sit for the majority of their day have much higher mortality rates than people who don't, even if they're physically active during another part of the day", says Peter Katzmarzyk, an epidemiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Route, Louisiana. (Nutrition Action Newsletter, 36:10, pg 9 December 2009). (emphasis added)

That was an eye-opener! Even if you exercise during your off hours, you can't undo the damage from sitting all day!

Even if it wasn't just overall health, there are other benefits: Sitting during desk work burns about 125 calories per hour (for a 150 lbs person) while standing burns around 165. While that doesn't seem like a lot, that's around 1600 calories per week - equivalent to about two hours of running.   

So, after some brain storming I headed off to Ikea to see what I could do. I ended up with a nice desk from their Vika series, with legs that went up to 42". That wasn't quite tall enough, but i added bed risers. (The risers I got were from Ikea, but looked very similar.) The legs were fairly expensive - but I wanted something sturdy and adjustable. The desk does wiggle a little, but I think it'll be great.

Now... if i could only get a treadmill in my office!