All the research shows that sitting all day is bad for you. My dad died early in life due to a heart attack. Granted he was a heavy smoker, was pretty overweight and a heavy drinker. I’d kind of like to be around for the next 40 years so I’ve been trying to not be so sedentary and get moving around throughout the day. Sit less, walk more. Prior to my office move, management was nice enough to get me an adjustable standing desk. They got me a Kangaroo Junior from ergodesktop.com

I love it. It allows me to easily move from one position to another. Right now I spend about 1/2 my day on my feet as opposed to 8 hours of sitting slouched over a keyboard. It’s pneumatic so it raises up on it’s own and take a little pressure to lower it. There’s 2 knobs you loosen to adjust the height. One for the base and one for the display. It would be great if the knobs were levers instead so it was a little easier to operate them but it’s a minor issue.

There’s a small bracket you can use to prop up the front of the unit when it’s in the standing position for more stability. There have been a few times when I forgot to put the brace in and leaned on the apparatus. Nothing broke, nor did anything fall but the whole thing shifted. I’m now in the habit of putting that brace in there. Every. Time. Truth be told, my biggest issue is forgetting to take the brace out and trying to push the desk down.

We also purchased a Rain Design mStand to elevate the laptop a little more too. That also gives me a small area under the laptop to sit stuff like my phone, headphones or iPad.

Also visible is the standing mat that I purchased. I bought the Imprint Comfort Mat Nantucket Series about 6 months ago and it’s been great. It really reduces the fatigue from standing. It feels so nice that sometimes I take off my shoes and stand on it. I’m not sure how my co-workers feel about this…

I can’t say whether standing yields any real health benefits but one thing’s for sure, it’s got to be better than sitting.