The Standing Desk [α] – Day 14

May 11, 2012

Physically, I feel good getting up to work in the morning. I think it’s because I don’t get up just to sit down again. My body feels energized most of the morning, mind alert, and my frame moves around while I type up the morning’s correspondence. Two weeks in, I remain happy with the switch to a standing desk, and am considering when to build my “Beta” version, levitating my old sitting desk one-half-person into the air on a hand-designed scaffold.

There have been quite a number of hoped-for positives that have proven true. What comes to mind at the moment:

Certain postural habits that came from sitting have quickly been reversed. A left-shoulder crink of the neck is gone, and some achiness of the back and hips has subsided. I love that the core muscles are better aligned, and the torso feels healthier and heartier.
The muscle tone in my legs is better, and I find my lower body more limber at the beginning of an exercise session than before, while my upper body is less knotted.
I used to take exercise breaks in morning and afternoon to get my juices flowing, so I didn’t feel like a stagnant puddle. My breaks now are more satisfying: the same yoga break stretches already-energized muscles, the pilates roller I used to use to try to work out the kinks (I have never practiced pilates, just bought a roller, on the cheap, at the Ocean State Job Lot… see below) now seems to lengthen an already-aligned back. Nice!
Best of all, I feel terribly smug, and use all my left-over brain-power to justify my smugness. How could a project with such emotional investment possibly fail?

Meanwhile, the not-unexpected negatives include:

Sore feet? Yes.
Somewhat tired legs? Uh-huh.
The late-afternoon energy downhill slide? More noticeable than before - different than before, too.

That indefinable, sluggish 3pm feeling – the feeling that built an entire industry around little bottles of “speed”, or this decade’s legitimized version of it – has been replaced by a much simpler recognition that “my feet are tired”. I prefer the latter: it’s got a little macho rush attached to it (for me), like drinking whiskey neat. It’s the wind-blown feeling after a cycle ride. It’s definitely more alive than the former, requires no additional investment in point-of-purchase stimulants, and I can pretend I am going to live longer because of it (I might be right).

I’ve made a few little adjustments this week as well: they’ll help me design the Beta. I noticed the monitor was a little lower than eye-level and, wanting to raise my chin up proudly, the “Breads” section of my cookbook collection, which had yet to be tapped for this project, turned into a laptop mesa. Now the nape of my neck is straight. I also found that the wireless mouse was one cookbook too high, so I allowed the Vegetarian Epicure (which, incidentally, contains my favorite recipe for crepes) return to its place on the shelf.

Last night I had a conversation with my mother the Operating Room Nurse (retired), who seconded the idea of a standing pad of some sort, and recommended shoe inserts for good arch support. I had inserts from my White Mountain hiking boots that I scavenged and, after deciding the designer kitchen mats at the local hardware store were too pricey, wandered downscale to the local Ocean State Job Lot (an east-coaster’s discounted discount store) and found a perfect 1.5" semi-firm mat for $3. I bought two and slid them together so I’d have the range of motion required to samba while I type.

Total cost of ownership so far: $6.00. Plus an investment in lumber which, if it becomes my old desk’s riser, will amount to $19.38 extra. So far, all good.

Stay tuned!