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Standing While Working Results in Better Work?
Bamafan77 asks: "I've recently become fascinated by the idea of standing while working. I've found that I'm much more productive for
longer periods of time while standing as opposed to sitting. The best way to describe it is that my brain feels more 'engaged.' Apparently, many famous people feel the same way including Thomas Wolfe, Vladimir Nabokov, and Winston Churchill. Other benefits include a better ability to control weight. (Guess what? Your slow metabolism ain't the cause for that belly). The Mayo Clinic has gone so far as to do research into a treadmill workstation. Does anyone here have experiences to share when it comes to standing while working, especially in the IT field?"
Standing sounds like a good idea, but walking? I keep getting this hamster image in my head. Plus, I'm sure if I put the computer on a treadmill it wouldn't be too long before I became distracted and forgot to walk. I often use my exercise ball instead of the regular chair at the computer at home. You're constantly using the leg and abdominal muscles to balance yourself. It also reduces back fatigue and improves your posture.
... take from that what you will.
I am a facility production operator on the North Slope of Alaska. To the layfolk, that means I separate oil from water and gas and some suspended solids and then ship it south, where it is turned into everything you see around you (basically).
Anyway, the point is, my job entails a lot of walking. Like, a lot. I routinely walk 12 miles per day during my 12 hour shifts. More than that even. But, sometimes, I sit. And when I sit, I get tired. And time slows down. And it generally gets pretty tough to handle.
So when there's nothing to do, I play janitor. Mopping the floors of a billion dollar facility is actually not too bad, considering the alternative (just sitting there waiting for time to pass).
TLF
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
I found that sitting down greatly improves my comfort and the quality of my pr0n surfing.
What, you meant real work? Well...ok...
Never underestimate the predictability of human stupidity...
Standing usually means you're moving around. I used to do this all the time when thinking about a problem. It gets the blood circulating and really does improve mental abilities. Thinking on your feet. It's not just a good idea!
He typed at a standup desk as well, at least sometimes. I remember seeing a pic of it.
Of course, then he offed himself, so maybe this isn't such a good idea...
In a retail environment, standing all day just results in sore feet and irritability while working. Maybe the IT field is different, but in retail, standing all day sucks. Oh course, most things in retail suck, so why should standing be any different.
-William Brendel
I have worked standing up for the last 3 years. It all started when I began to outfit my new office; my work requires me to look at a lot of plans and hence I built a drafting table, which are traditionally at standing height. To make matters simpler, I decided to also build my regular workstation at the same height. To make things just right, I hung my dual LCD flat panels at eye level.
:)
I ordered two nice Hon drafting chairs and expected to wind up sitting in them as I had a regular desk chair in the past.
I soon found though, that it was much more convenient and comfortable to just forego the chairs and work standing up. I discovered that I didn't get tired from standing at all, and in fact felt more awake and alert as a result. There's also the nice side benefit that without chairs, people don't really tend to come and camp out in my office
Last year, I was diagnosed with a herniated disc in my lower back. This is where the working-standing-up plan really pays off. I quickly discovered that when I sit, the pain is worse. After sitting awhile, it's a *lot* worse. The doctor explained that this is because sitting puts the more pressure on your disc than laying or standing. In fact, standing seems to be the most neutral position for your back and relieves more pressure on the disc than other positions. So if you have back problems - working while standing could mean the difference between working or not. I know it has for me on many days.
So to those who haven't tried working while standing up - I highly recommend it. I believe the health benefits are strong and the impact on your mental processes is positive.
I've had two onsite roles where you could choose from different workstations within an open office layout. I actually started working from a regular desk, then moved to using one of those kneeling chairs for posture. Then upgraded to the partially tilted drafting tables with high stool and eventually found myself at the standing desks (which is fine as long as the screen is at eye level, using a laptop on these desks was difficult because you actually look down and makes your shoulders hurt after a while)
What happens is that you find that you focus a lot less on the screen all the time, you find yourself walking around a lot more, you make more cups of tea/coffee and it feels more productive. The only problem was that you can't really jump into the standing thing straight away, especially when you've been used to sitting at a desk for years. The other problem is if you get tired you tend to lean on your forearms like leaning on a bar.
The other thing I really liked about the standing desks is that they had bi-fold doors directly behind you which looked out onto an atrium with a large tree full of birds for most of the year. You could stop typing, phase out of the work at hand and listen to life for a bit. It was awesome during summer when you get the warm light rain, with the door open, coffee and maybe light music on in the background.
Task Mangler
I'm a cashier, so I stand all day at my job, and I have mild scoliosis. I'm very much looking foreward to finishing my degree so that I can have a sit-down job at my computer, thank you very much.
I used to carry a bottle of whiskey for snake bite. And two snakes. -Nefarious Wheel
> I can't stand around typing all day without some serious pain
Perhaps you haven't had your workstation set up right. I suppose I am lucky: though I do development work in an ugly gray cube-land, my company pays an ergonomist to come in and measure people and adjust their workstations (keyboard tray and countertop height, chair position, etc.), the idea being that paying disability for folks with RSI and such is way more expensive than having the ergonomist in for a visit whenever we hire someone new.
Anyway, the point: I told the ergonomist six years ago that I wanted a stand-up cubicle, with a high chair I could pop up onto if I wanted to sit. My cube's counters got raised, its shelves went down near the floor, a new chair arrived (a pretty cheap one actually, but I don't spend much time on it)... and voila. I usually stand and type comfortably for the better part of an hour; then I'll hop up on the chair for ten or fifteen minutes max. (The chair is adjusted such that I don't have to raise/lower the keyboard tray when I move from standing to sitting.)
This works really well for me. My wrists don't hurt anymore, and neither does my lower back. (True, this may have a lot more to do with good ergonomics than it does with standing versus sitting.) I feel engaged with my work when I am standing. If I sit for too long, I either wanna slouch (which makes me wanna take a nap), or I get fidgety. No thanks, I'll stand.
I sit next to a guy with a stand-up cubicle. The walls of the cubicles are about four feet tall so all day long there's this guy's head looking down on me. He's also a loud talker on the phone so there is a loud phone talking head staring at me all day long.
Have I mentioned his sneezing, coughing and his constant eating of corn nuts? So I have a loud phone talking, coughing, sneezing, corn nut breath head leering at me 8-10 hours a day.
Oh! and he's also a mouth breather.
I'm not a Troll, it's reverse psychology.
My standing desk at work has a urinal underneath it so I never have to leave it.
I've tried this and have known several people who have tried this. In the short term, the novelty tends to lend itself to "higher productivity." It seems that freeing yourself from the trappings and surroundings where you've allowed yourself to develop bad habits (slouching, surrepticiously surfing /., playing solitaire, staring at that mark on the wall of your cubicle) that are not productive causes you to have a spurt of higher productivity. Nowadays, I find that a periodic change of venue helps me in the same way - I goto the library for a while, move to a table and spread my stuff out instead of on a desk, sit on the floor or on a couch. I think that the people that I work with innately understand what I'm doing, even if it looks funny.
The only thing I have against standing is that I have to find a counter or something of similar height that functions as a work surface - otherwise, i'm hunched over and a sore back is a real productivity killer....
see http://www.pbs.org/cringely/nerdtv/transcripts/001 .html
We have a daily stand up meeting. 5-10 minutes every morning where we let everyone know what we've been doing and where we plan to be by the end of the day. When standing in a big circle people tend not to waffle on like they do when sitting around a table in a meeting room.
As for spending all day in one position here's what I rekon:
If you spend 10+ hours a day sitting on your arse then you'll probably get a sore arse.
If you spend 10+ hours a day standing on your feet then you'll probably get sore feet.
If you spend 10+ hours a day standing on your head then you should probably seek help.
Go the middle way. spend some time sitting, some time standing and some time dancin' like a funky chicken.
Unexpect the expected!
from a medical point of view you also have dis-advantage in working in a standing position.
Mainly : the problem of venal blood return and venal stasis.
In short : your feet swell because the heart has a hard time pumping the blood back up all this height.
Just ask a surgeon (or any other job where one must stay standing up without moving a lot).
Walking may improve the blood flow (the muscle may act as supplementary pumps, because veins have valves).
But on the other hand it puts a lot of strains on the muscle of the lower extremities.
Most of the sportives (typical persons who work by moving in an upright position) have knee aging prematurely.
And I think most slashdotter know the problems associated with a sitting position.
Hence : there's no "perfect" position for working.
One should mainly change between them a lot, go for a walk once in a while, etc...
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]