The Stand Up Desk
Posted by Daniel Young on October 18, 2011 0 Comments
You may have seen some of your co-workers start using them. Maybe you’ve read about the health benefits of them. Love them or quizzically gawk, the stand up desk is in vogue; they’re the new trend in office furniture.
As early as 1964, DJ Depree, the creative mind behind Herman Miller, developed an early prototype of a stand up desk. Later the company modernized the design for cubes and offices. Antrho, a company who has earned a reputation in the IT business, has a few of their own stand up desks for more than a few years. Until recently, the concept of standing up at work wasn’t really embraced. Lately that trend appears to be changing.
I’m not sure when the trend of stand up desks, started to grow, but over the years, I’ve noticed that after sitting at a desk for hours on end, my back would hurt and I’d be more stressed. To combat this, I’d find any excuse to break away from my chair and walk about my office. Whether it was the movement or simply the act of standing, I’d notice that my back would feel better, I’d be less tired and my concentration would sharpen.
When I’m not using my cycle desk to pedal, I’ll put my bike to the side and use the desk as a stand up desk. In that role, the design has been perfect.
As I’ve invited co-workers and clients into my office, meeting around my desk, the general response to standing up over sitting was surprisingly well received.
Like anything else that’s new, it takes time for people to feel comfortable with change, especially with something so core to most people’s day-to-day lives: their desk. To banish the office chair from their lives, maybe too much for most people, however, for those of us who do, the experience is liberating.