I wanted to be able to quickly switch from a sitting to a sanding desk when using a computer. First, I bought cheap benches I could use to convert my sitting desk to a standing one, but I found that the conversion hassle prevented me from wanting to go from the sitting to the standing position. Next, I intended to buy a desk that you could quickly and easily raise or lower, but I found this cost more than an additional computer. So, I bought an extra computer for my office and have one on a normal desk and the other in a permanent standing desk position. Dropbox makes it easy for me to quickly switch when working on a file.
Why not get a tall chair that can be used at a standing desk? (I’ve never used such a setup, I don’t know if it would work or if I’m missing something that people who have tried this would know, so this is a serious question not a rhetorical one.)
This agrees with your experience with “hassle”: from an article linked to by bcoburn in the munchkin thread:
In our field studies of sit-stand workstations we have found little evidence of widespread benefits and users only stand for very short-periods (15 minutes or less total per day). Other studies have found that the use of sit-stand stations rapidly declines so that after 1 month a majority of people are sitting all the time, so compliance can be problematic.
Do you have strong reasons to not just stand all the time while using your computer?
I use a standing desk all the time at home (which, until recently, was also my primary office). I think that shifting away from the computer when too tired to stand may be worth considering as a deliberate strategy.
This is a simple idea that I came up with by myself. I was looking for a means to enter high functioning lots-of-beta-waves modes without the use of chemical stimulants. What I found was that very bright light works really, really well.
I got the brightest light bulbs I could get cheaply. 105 watts of incandescents with halogen gas, billed as the equivalent of 130 watts of incandescent light. And I got an adaptor like this that lets me screw four of those into the same socket in the ceiling. The result is about as painful to look at as the sun. It makes my (small) room brighter than a clear summer’s day at my latitude and slightly brighter than a supermarket.
2) I tried/ Friends tried/ There is some small evidence for it
I wanted to be able to quickly switch from a sitting to a sanding desk when using a computer. First, I bought cheap benches I could use to convert my sitting desk to a standing one, but I found that the conversion hassle prevented me from wanting to go from the sitting to the standing position. Next, I intended to buy a desk that you could quickly and easily raise or lower, but I found this cost more than an additional computer. So, I bought an extra computer for my office and have one on a normal desk and the other in a permanent standing desk position. Dropbox makes it easy for me to quickly switch when working on a file.
Why not get a tall chair that can be used at a standing desk? (I’ve never used such a setup, I don’t know if it would work or if I’m missing something that people who have tried this would know, so this is a serious question not a rhetorical one.)
Interesting. But I would want my feet to rest on a solid surface.
How about a draughtsman’s chair?
Use a tall chair and an (improvised?) footrest of appropriate height? Some standing desks have multiple shelves that can conceivably be used for this.
This agrees with your experience with “hassle”: from an article linked to by bcoburn in the munchkin thread:
Do you have strong reasons to not just stand all the time while using your computer?
It often feels better to sit down, especially when I’m tired.
I have been for about 20 days standing unless I’m doing the most important thing I could be doing. Standing is an antiprocrastination device.
I just gave a talk to about 60 people at Smith College’s Executive Education for Women program on rationality and I mentioned this idea. Thanks.
I use a standing desk all the time at home (which, until recently, was also my primary office). I think that shifting away from the computer when too tired to stand may be worth considering as a deliberate strategy.
Embodied Cognition Hack: Posture Improvement
chaosmage said:
While some people benefit from extra beta waves, it might promote anxiety in others.