
Standing versus Sitting - naish
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1001-standing-versus-sitting
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menloparkbum
Standing desks are great, especially if you have lower back problems. It does
take at least a week to get used to it, because initially the pressure gets
transfered from your back to your legs. If you can swing it, the ideal work
setup for back health is a standing desk and a sofa or easy chair you can
stretch out on with a laptop. I also have a medicine ball on the floor (you
can use any sort of ball, soccer, basketball, etc) to put one of your feet on
from time to time in order to change positions up a bit.

Another thing to think about is monitor position. Even with a standing desk,
you don't want to be looking down into your monitor... you'll eventually mess
up your neck. I'm relatively tall, so I have one of those monitor swingarm
things that raises my monitor up to eye level.

A suggestion for those who are space-constrained... now that we have LCD
panels, you can simply mount your screen on the wall, and then use a shelf or
shelving "system" to create a "desk" mounted to the wall. This is what I did
at home, and it cost < $100 for the LCD mount and semi-custom shelf/desk.

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shimon
Standing is great, but walking is even better. I've been using a treadmill
desk for the past 7 months and have seen the same benefits Jamis noted - less
fatigue, better concentration, improved posture. Walking at a slow pace (.7 to
1.2 mph) is less stressful to your joints than standing still, but you don't
break a sweat and can type, use a trackball, and talk on the phone
comfortably.

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smhinsey
i am having a hard time picturing a treadmill desk. are you joking? if not, do
you have any references you can recommend on the logistics of it?

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projectileboy
If you really want to get fancy, check out these desks:
<http://www.biomorphdesk.com>

You can get them with quiet motors that enable you to go from sitting to
standing at the touch of a button.

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technoguyrob
Coupled with an Aeron, this makes the perfect investment of your VC money for
the entire team!

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menloparkbum
Aerons are about $400 used, last forever, and you can get $400 for it again if
you want to sell it. Their utility as a symbol of excess and financial
mismanagement died out in the previous dot-com bust. In fact, now that servers
are cheap, you might as well spend your money on nice chairs and desks - at
least they last forever.

The new metric for startup waste is the amount of time founders and their
employees spend on social networking sites. If your CEO is averaging 50 TWEETS
per day, you're fucked.

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donw
Out of curiosity, where do you find them used?

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menloparkbum
craig's list, and if you are in SF or Oakland there are a number of furniture
places that buy and sell them.

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astine
I find that I frequently have to get up and pace when doing any work that
requires thinking work. I don't know that I'd like to work while standing
however.I have a tendency to lock my knees and this leads to unfortunate
consequences.

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sah
I've been working standing for the last few months, with similar results. It's
definitely easier on my back, and seems to be good for my wrists as well. If
you try it, make sure you mount the monitor up at eye level. When you're
standing up straight, there's a lot more distance between your wrists and your
eyes.

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nonrecursive
That's pretty neat. $1295 is a bit steep for me though.

I'm pretty happy with my current desk. The top is just a 68"x30" (or so) wood
piece from Ikea, with legs from Ikea as well. It's very sturdy. And, while
it's not beautiful like the Amish desk, it does possess its own spare
elegance.

It has no drawers or shelves or anything fancy like that. For storage I've
just stuck a couple mobile file cabinets underneath.

Instead of using a keyboard tray I just put my keyboard in my lap, which
actually is very comfortable and leaves me space in front of my monitor so
that I can sketch ideas.

The total was around $200. It's not a stand up table but I think it would be
fairly easy to just get some new legs and bolt them on.

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Darmani
I read once in Discover Magazine that standing (and, to a lesser extent,
sitting up) causes the release of stress hormones that impair thinking. Given
that, a standing desk may not truly be all that.(Sorry, I couldn't find a link
to it on the website. I have had trouble finding articlelettes in the R&D
section of the magazine with the website's search feature before.)

Of course, whenever I need to do any truly deep thinking about a problem, it's
usually not at my desk, so perhaps that detriment may not really be that
important

Meanwhile, if you really want to take having an active posture while working
to its extreme, I once read an article about treadmill desks...

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Xichekolas
I'll have to go home and put cinder blocks under my desk legs to prop it up to
standing level and try it. I have recently noticed that I have leg fatigue at
the end of each day from sitting so much, and I do all my thinking while
pacing about anyway, so standing seems like an interesting option.

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mrtron
I am still laughing out loud about an Amish computer desk.

I am not sure I wish to stand all day, I really would prefer to go back and
forth between the two options perhaps with a laptop or two workstations.

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jgrahamc
Can't believe they missed the opportunity to mention Hemingway.

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vlad
From what I read years ago, standing is better for your back than sitting.
Especially the kind of sitting where the person slouches for hours at a time.

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graywh
I've always wanted to get one of those big exercise balls to replace my
general issue office chair, but a desk that I could stand at would be nice,
too.

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raju
Does anyone know where one can get an adjustable table for a little cheaper?
$1200 is a little out of my budget.

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admanrs
a "kneeling chair" (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneeling_chair>) is a
similar solution that keeps your spine straight but doesnt put stress on your
legs. i have a friend who has one and he loves it

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bgutierrez
I had a kneeling chair. It was great for 10 minutes, but after several weeks I
got fed up with the strain it put on my lower back.

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peterb
That was the point. You have to build up the small muscles that support your
spine. Until that has happened, your lower back will hurt ... but that is a
good sign. Once the muscles have developed, you can sit for hours and your
posture is dramatically improved. That is what happened for me.

But now I'm thinking standing or walking is the way to go. There is deep
evidence that walking while working improves performance ... and is more fun.

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brianmckenzie
You can get a great standing desk at Ikea for about 100 bucks. I swear by
mine.

