Standing Around....?

Hello!

Guess what?! It’s Monday! What an awesome day! J

Did I manage to pique your interest in Yoga last week? And really, who doesn’t want to be able to refer to themselves as a “Yogi”?!   *LOL*

Let’s continue on our exploration of physical activity for stress relief and physical balance. This week, I want to address standing desks/workstations.

Have you ever tried standing at your desk for any expended period of time? How did it go?

About 16 months ago I tweaked my back very effectively, and sitting all day at my desk became intolerable in my old office chair. In desperation I elevated my entire computer workstation on massive boxes and liked it so much I've worked standing up ever since. Impressively, despite working on them for >6 months, the boxes held up well, but such constant contact on cardboard really dried out the skin on my hands and arms! Early this year I finally managed to talk my office into buying me a VARIDESK (the boxes had reached their limit), and I’ve never looked back.

I am the only person in this office that stands at the computer, and I am regularly asked, “How can you stand up all day, don’t you get tired?”

Getting physically tired is actually the BEST thing about this style of work. Back in the days when I was trapped in my head and consumed in a world of stress (and sitting at a computer all day), I would go home at night with my brain bleeding out my eyeballs, only to have to go to the gym to thrash out all the physical energy that had built up as stress and tension through the day. Sound familiar…?

The very first thing I noticed after I made the shift to standing, was when I went home at night after having stood all day, my fatigue felt more…. Natural. I was now both physically and mentally tired at night, and all of a sudden my sleep patterns changed. I could fall asleep more easily because there was a healthy balance of physical and mental fatigue! It also kept my metabolism more active throughout the day, awesome benefit!

As a brief, shameless plug for a product that I have really learnt to love, the VARIDESK is a great invention. It is fully height adjustable, so if you feel a bit under the weather one day, you can easily lever your workstation back to desk level and sit down (rather than juggle everything as you pull all those boxes out from underneath!). The only thing is that there is no space on the VARIDESK for anything other than your computer, so make sure you have another surface at standing height that you can write on if needs be. J

Now, when talking about standing in the same spot for an extended period of time, there are some considerations you are wise to address.

1.       What you stand on.

2.       How you hold your posture.

3.       What you wear on your feet.

4.       How much you move around as you stand (keep on movin'!).

5.       What height you set your keyboard and monitor(s).

Working at a fabulously makeshift workstation for so long, I got to experiment with all of these points in weird and interesting ways.  By the end of last year I was wearing sneakers to work every day and standing on a ‘fatigue’ mat. I also did some research about ideal monitor keyboard heights for optimised comfort and safety. I won’t go into the full details of that ergonomic spectrum here, as I am (as usual!) more interested in the feet! J

Standing all day being mindful of posture, and in what I considered to be quality supportive shoes, I got by most of last year. Until one day a few months ago I decided to allow myself to look a bit rougher in the office, and I kicked off my shoes and socks completely. And now I never want to go back!

All modern shoes have additional padding beneath the heel, so the toes are always sloping down slightly. What I have found is that this slight angle causes a fatigue in my leg muscles and feet that can be quite acute and I end up yearning to sit down.

However, no matter how uncomfortable I allow my legs to become while wearing shoes (even top of the range runners like Kayano’s), the pain and fatigue evaporates in minutes when I take my shoes off and go barefoot.  Cool huh? No wonder so many public figures go barefoot on stage!

I attribute it back to the ideas behind what is making minimalist (nude) running shoes like Vibrams so popular.  See my old Special Post about ‘Minimalist Shoes’ if you are curious about my last exploration of this topic.

Now, the message and GEM I actually want to share with you this week, is to encourage you to think outside the box and explore standing at your workstation if you find yourself sitting all day every business day. I hope that by writing about my personal experience and giving you a specific testimonial, you may consider it more seriously.

Also, there is more and more research being released about the physical and mental benefits of standing rather than sitting as you work. Google knows (almost) all, so if you’re curious, have a little look!

So give it a go. Particularly if you find yourself struggling to quiet your hyperactive thoughts when you want to be sleeping, this might be a really great step in a positive direction for you? Certainly can’t hurt to try! J

Until next week, in love and light, be peaceful.

Annalise