Sitting all day is bad for you (link), so stand-up desks are increasing in popularity among health-minded people. But when you want more of a workout than simply standing, try a Squat Desk.
The Squat Desk is a circular tabletop platform supported by firm leather straps that you slip over your shoulders. Within the constraints posed by the cables for your computer, printer, etc., you can pace around your office, perform squats, or enjoy a bit of mild hula-hooping, all while keeping your eyes on your monitor and your hands on your keyboard. When you're not in the mood for exercise, your Squat Desk can rest on a variable height rack, allowing you to pull up a chair or treat it like a traditional stand-up desk.
In addition to strengthening your legs and back, the Squat Desk will test your zen organizational skill as you'll need to arrange the things on your desk both for functionality and for balance.
For added weight, drawers and cabinets can be bolted underneath the tabletop platform.-- swimswim, Jan 28 2014 The health hazards of sitting (printable poster) http://apps.washing...rds-of-sitting/750/ [swimswim, Jan 28 2014] Purely coincidental and not the same type of squat, but... http://bitehype.com...ow-about-squatting/ [swimswim, Jan 30 2014] (+) but my knees are howling just thinking about it.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 28 2014 Hold on just a second there.
According to the link: " people with the most sedentary time are more than twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease than those with the least."
So, what you're telling me is that if I sit around all day being comfortable with a cup of coffee, my risk of cardiovascular disease is only two-fold higher than that of a lumberjack.
Frankly, given that the lumberjack's cardiovascular risk is probably very low, I'm deeply reassured and will gladly accept double that small risk (especially as its probably offset by a lower likelihood of being hit by a falling tree).-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 28 2014 Oh come on, that's just ... errr ... quite logical ... err ... we need to think about that.-- 8th of 7, Jan 28 2014 // Sitting all day is bad for you //
Standing all day is no picnic either. My time in the shops is over, but ten years of work boots and concrete floors have taken a noticable toll: flat feet, splayed arches, arthritis, etc. Some men suffer forty or fifty years of cumulative trauma to their lower limbs just by going to work.
So maybe the healthiest job is one that combines manual labor with intellectual processing, alternating between desk work and floor work in 1-2 hour periods.-- Alterother, Jan 28 2014 I'm tired just reading that.-- rcarty, Jan 28 2014 Safest not to get out of bed I rekon.-- pocmloc, Jan 29 2014 And of course when reading this - "people with the most sedentary time are more than twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease than those with the least." we mustn't fall into the trap of confusing correlation with causation. It could be that sedentary people eat more cakes than the general population (I am, in fact, seated at a desk eating some delicious home-made fruit cake as I type this) and that this, rather than the sedentariness, is the cause of cardiovascular disease.-- hippo, Jan 29 2014 Eating cake is harder standing up.-- calum, Jan 29 2014 Can you add helium balloons and an underpants attachment? With enough buoyancy, I figure to wear the squat desk like underpants, and tour the city as I work at my desk... [+]-- Grogster, Jan 29 2014 [calum] I don't find that, but it may be that I have acquired through years of experience a ninja-like level of skill in eating cake.-- hippo, Jan 29 2014 I should have caveated my statement with, eh, caveats: I am above averagely tall so, assuming I don't have a nosebag or hold the plate nearer my chin, the cake has further to travel - and more wind turbulence to travel through - than it does for more averagely heighted people; I live on Venus (summering in Svalbard when possible), where the weather is deleterious to cake integrity over even minimally increased distances; my mouth is non-traditionally positioned (across the bridge of my nose) which brings its own problems.-- calum, Jan 29 2014 + for fruit cake.
I worry how the seat of my pants will hold up. Squatting is just asking for a big rip. Then I would get teased about my silver lame bikini briefs.-- bungston, Jan 29 2014 @[MB], that's only one of the negative health effects. But I don't think the studies controlled for falling trees. When will biomedical research get a clue?
@[Hippo], the cartoon summary of the research inexplicably left out the details of study design. The perilous trap of confusing correlation and causation was avoided.
@[bungtson], you're in luck. A "modesty skirt" can be strung around the desk allowing you to work pantlessly, thereby avoiding any rips or exposed undergarments.
I think the best idea is [Alterother]'s, about a mixed up-and-down approach to work. And the Squat Desk can fit right into such a workflow.-- swimswim, Jan 29 2014 I think I should propose the 'standing on your head' desk next. Just think of how much more productive we'd be with all of that easy blood supply to our brains...-- RayfordSteele, Jan 29 2014 Pah! I laugh at your standing-on-your-head desk. My desk is situated inside a vast centrifuge to force blood at collosal pressures into my brain, whilst my legs atrophy.-- hippo, Jan 30 2014 random, halfbakery