Taking a Stand at Work

Sometimes it feels like the powers that be at work are trying to keep you down.  Not in a motivational sense, but in the stay seated and do your work sense.  For the past month, I've been fighting those powers and standing the whole time at work.  I converted my cube from a normal 'grow old and retire cube' to a high action power standing cube!     

 "Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and like to write standing up." ~Ernest Hemingway

The American Cancer Society found that women who sat more than six hours a day were 37 percent more likely to die an early death then women who sat for less than three hours a day and men were 18 percent more likely.  To make it worse, other studies have have suggested that the time you spend exercising does not negate the time time you spend sitting and being lazy when it comes to heart-disease.  Statistics have shown that the more hours a day you spend sitting increases your chances of living sickly or dying young.  Exercise, even daily, don't allow you to escape this truth.

"Regularly exercising is not the same as being active.  A person may hit the gym every day, but if he's sitting a good deal of the rest of the time, he's probally not leading an overall active life." ~Peter Katzmarzyk, Ph.D

Standing cubes, while not a new idea, have been growing in popularity over the past few years.  I first saw a standing cube last year while touring the Treasury Building in DC and the Wall Street Journal did an article last year refering to them as "Silicon Valley's newest status symbol" (Standing Desks Are on the Rise).   Some notable standing workers include:  Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Chirchill, Earnest Hemingway and Donald Rumsfield.  Currently in my office, myself and about five others have transitioned to the standing cube.

"Prolonged sitting is a risk factor for all-cause mortality, independent of physical activity.  Public health programs should focus on reducing sitting time in addition to increasing physical activity levels."  ~Archives of Internal Medicine

So what's it like standing all day?  Don't your legs start to bother you?  Standing all day is certainly different than sitting all day.  There isn't that "let me sit down and get to work" feeling when you arrive because... well... you don't sit down.  Standing locked into one place can get uncomfortable after just a little while, so I find myself swaying and rocking back and forth a lot.  I admit, if others could see my movements through out the day they would probally think I'm crazy crazy!

"Excessive sitting is a lethal activity." ~Dr. James Levine, Mayo Clinic

With one month in the books I don't plan on stopping this experiment anytime soon.  If you are looking for a way to get more active and shake-up your at work experience at the same time - I highly recommend giving the standing cube a try.