It started with this study published by the American College of Sport Medicine that made an uncomfortable point: sitting for long periods erases the health gains of regular exercise. The researchers found “a dose-response association between sitting time and mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease.” So, sit a lot and die (eventually).
Of course, no matter how you spend your days – upright, prone, sitting, ducking – we only have so many days. But to face the idea of having fewer of them because you sit a lot? That’s tough to take.
Sitting is not as benign as it looks. You can die from sitting still too long on a trans-Pacific flight. Deep vein thrombosis sets in when the blood pools up in the veins of your thighs. It clots, and the clot makes its way up to your heart and lungs when you get up to use the lavatory before your final descent into Shanghai.
So if you’ve been sitting while spreadsheeting too much lately, throw a copypaper box up on your desk, prop up the ends, stand up and get back to work. Here’s my version of that:
There’s a play-at-home version too next to my bureau using a combination of stackable furniture:
The best part about any standup desk? It makes it very easy to walk away from the computer, which is better for anyone’s health.
The True Gen 