By Kevin Meyer
Regular readers know I've been a big fan of the stand up desk ever since I discovered the concept in Japan a couple years ago. I converted my old executive desk to a stand up model, came across more science supporting the concept, and had several other people in my company converted by a year later. We even took a look at fitness accessories for our stand up desks.
I’ve spent several weeks trying to find the perfect way to work at my computer without a chair. The search was not quixotic; standing up is in vogue. Medical researchers have found that people who stand at work tend to be much healthier than those who sit, and there’s a large online subculture of stand-up fanatics who swear that getting rid of your chair will change your life. But I wasn’t just looking for better health; standing, I hoped, would also improve how I work.
The author decided to get an adjustable model similar to mine, which allows you to either sit or stand. So what happened?
After a few days of warming up, I settled into a pleasant sit/stand routine. Because I found it difficult to drink coffee or eat breakfast at my desk while standing, I began most mornings seated. I’d begin to stand about an hour later. If I had to write an article, I’d remain standing for most of the day. But if I was planning to spend a lot of time on tasks that required less creative focus — surfing the Web, making phone calls, watching online videos — I’d usually switch back to sitting at around lunch time.
Standing when you need to focus.
Nichole Stutzman, creative manager for the ergonomic furniture company Anthro, which makes a wide variety of adjustable-height desks, spotted a similar pattern at her office; people tend to stand when they want to get something done.
“We have a lot of designers here, and when they’re trying to draw or do something creative, I start hearing the desks go up,” she said.
I suspect that this is because when you’re standing, you feel a bit unchained from your desk. If I got stuck on a word or sentence as I wrote, I found myself shaking my arms, bouncing on my feet or stepping away from the desk for a bit — things I couldn’t do in a chair. Often, the antsy-ness seemed to relax my mind enough for me to get over my creative hurdle.
Which is exactly what I experience. If I'm sitting I'm complacent, my mind begins to wander, and I even daydream. If you doze off while standing up you fall over. Standing somehow creates focus and engenders creativity. Spreadsheet analysis completed in half the time, documents read quickly, reports written concisely.
In fact, the only time I tend to sit in the office is when I read my morning Wall Street Journal. Try it, you just might like it.