While sorting out my post workforce life, in the first couple of weeks I felt like something was off. I now think one of my problems was that I wasn’t standing enough. At work I had made a standing desk out of a tray table and at home, I didn’t think to replicate it at first. It was about four years ago that a facebook friend posted about loving her standing desk. “Hmmmmm, that might be worth trying”, I thought, since she was really raving about it. By coincidence, there was an empty paper box in the hallway on my next day going into the office and I was able to test out the concept on the cheap by putting my keyboard and monitor on the box. I have to say it took a while to get used to. My legs were sore at first but I became accustomed to standing within a few weeks. I also had the problem of leaning my thighs on the desk rim that I had to overcome – lest they acquire a permanent ridge! Once the concept was proven I was able to upgrade by getting approval to order a $32 tray table.
Once I identified this problem, I just needed to fix my desk at home. I was able to do this with just a couple of stools, one for the monitor and one for the keyboard. My low budget set up is shown below. These days, back at my old office, every new workstation is automatically a desk which easily converts from sitting to standing, because even the government is realizing the benefits of a healthier workforce. The proven benefits of a standing desk are that it will reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, early death (Um, OK, maybe we in the third age are immune to that one!), weight gain and obesity. They have been proven to reduce back pain as well. If you want to avoid being too sedentary, it’s easy – consider standing up for yourself!
