I’d never heard of a standing-up desk until I went to work in 2004 for a company run by an innovative, creative Dane. To me, at first, standing up to work seemed a very tiring idea. But, as I learned through my occasional opportunities to stand up at one or other of the two standing-desks in the office, it’s really good for your concentration, not to mention your back and posture.

I’d often thought of getting a purpose-built stand-up desk in my own office at home, but couldn’t justify the expense fearing that my good intentions might tire quicker than my legs.

So, YAY! to writer and Facebook friend, Tania McCartney, for heralding the Varidesk. It’s a very good idea. More a riser than an actual desk as it sits on top of your desk or shelf, but it’s really easy to put up and put down so you can stand up or sit down to work at a whim. You can even download a mini app on your computer to tell you when to stand up, sit down and even how many calories you’re burning. I don’t quite care how accurate it might be calorie counting-wise, but it’s a great reminder when I’ve been sitting awhile to stand up again.

I’ve got to say I work best standing up to email, research and even type a blog post, but when serious prose writing I tend to need to sit down. I get so absorbed that I don’t want to strain anything, since in these early days of adjustment, I’m not quite in tune yet with the whole standing business. I just know that my back is going to thank me long term and hopefully my butt and hips too.

Apparently standing up to work is a growing trend, though Ernest Hemingway always wrote standing up due to a WW1 war injury. Only he stood at a typewriter balanced on a bookcase according to a 1954 interview with George Plimpton in The Paris Review. “He stands in a pair of his oversized loafers on the worn skin of a lesser kudu—the typewriter and the reading board chest-high opposite him.” 

I can’t boast such an exotic foot mat as Hemingway, but feel certain, that once I’m more attuned to my new desk, I should try emulating the master in some serious fiction writing and see if his inspiration rubs off.

Hemingway wasn’t alone. Well he probably was, while he was writing, but it seems that a few other well-known writers stood up to write too i.e. Lewis Carroll, Alexander Nabokov, George Sand and Virginia Woolf. So it seems I’ve joined good company.

Lots of medical studies are revealing health benefits of standing up to work too, at least part of the day, including James Levine, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic. For example:

1. Reduced Risk of Obesity
2. Reduced Risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Other Metabolic Problems
3. Reduced Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
4. Reduced Risk of Cancer
5. Lower Long-Term Mortality Risk

(You can read more on Levine’s study: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-health-benefits-standing-desks-180950259)

Me, I’m mainly aiming to be fitter and thinner, and hopefully live a whole lot longer to write a whole lot more books!