I'd love to stand while I work, but whenever I stand up in my office they assume I'm trying to escape.
In all honesty, I'm not sure I could code as well standing up. When I'm in "the zone" I'm always sitting on the edge of my seat, typically right at the point where either I'll fall out or the chair will go flying backwards if I move too much. It's not a concious thing. I've always worked like that, and I can stay like that for hours. Standing might just be different enough to break the process.
But the rest of the time? Sure, I'd love to work standing up. Sitting in a chair (inside) for eight, nine, ten hours a day drives me nuts.
About a month ago I put my monitor and keyboard on stacks of books, my mouse on a nearby shelf, and stood up for a week.
The first day was torture. It was painful and weird. I didn't get much work done. After a couple days I got used to it. I felt great, had more energy, and was way more focused. I burned more calories than the calculator says, because whenever I wasn't typing I was in motion...stepping back and forth, side to side, often in time to the music in my headphones. My coworkers were highly amused.
Whenever I had to wait for something, instead of getting distracted I just grooved on the music and danced around a bit while I waited, then jumped right back in.
By evening, I felt like I'd been doing physical work all day.
Unfortunately, an old knee injury started to really ache after a while. By the end of the week it was hurting quite a bit.
So now I switch back and forth. I stand until my knee starts to ache a bit, then sit for a while. Staying in motion while standing seems to help. When I'm really getting into it I'll also tend to crouch a bit, on the balls of my feet, sort of the standing version of the way you sit. Other times I'll do shallow one-legged squats.
I don't feel as good as that first week, but better than before. I get most of my work done while standing. I'm thinking I'll go get my knee looked at and see if that can be improved somehow.
Standing up in from of the computer is a major paradigm change ...
I've found that standing up and writing something on whiteboard engages my brain in different ways than typing it out at my laptop while sitting, or even drawing it out on a Wacom tablet while sitting.
It's the problem I have with most computer music tools; the typical nerdy mouse/keyboard UI encourages the wrong kind of mental mode. Touch screens are somewhat better but still don't embrace a rich, physical, spatial environment.
The interface isn't completely here yet to support "standing computing." We need "air mice" rather like Minority Report (which Kinect gives, almost), and a new method of character input. I've considered adapting an 8-key braille keyboard to a glove (or something) using bluetooth for mobility's sake (and will probably build as much sometime this summer), but that isn't perfect either.
I definitely agree that your brain works different while standing (or pacing). Most of the really difficult or complex stuff I solve while up on my feet, and then go back to edge-of-my-seat coding mode to get it out of my head.
As I understand it (and hopefully an expert will correct me if I'm wrong) they measure the composition of the air you breathe in and the air you breathe out. From that they figure out how much O2 you're converting into CO2 and hence how much energy you've consumed.
I have been thinking (but it hasn't gone past the thought stage) of setting a 90 min timer and making sure to do simple calisthenics at that interval.
By calisthenics, I mean the kind of thing you see older Chinese men and women doing in the morning around Columbus park in Chinatown NYC (probably not the only place on god's-green-earth that this happens...)
I have also thought there might be a hidden benefit in smoker's breaks in that one gets up, moves around and changes context for a bit. (And yes I know - forcibly introduce all kinds of poisons into the system.)
I don't know if it is just sitting that is at issue or if it is to have your muscles in one set position for a long time. Perhaps sentries, mimes and others who must stand still for long periods suffer from the same issue.
As I understand it - and this was gleaned from a brief scan of an NYTimes article. People who remain in a stationary sitting position for more than x hours a day are more prone to certain cardio-vascular issues associated with a sedentary lifestyle EVEN IF they regularly exercise.
I would imagine simply standing would be better for you but I feel like the real point is to do something that circulates blood and lymph through your system multiple times a day.
One of the 'use cases' that intrigues me are monks who meditate for long periods. I wonder if they suffer a greater incidence of blood clots and heart disease, etc.
I would be surprised if they do...
But, I am in no way an expert nor even an amateur physiologist and with diet and exercise I am prone to believing half digested notions (think xkcd 882 and 903).
To misappropriate Pascal's wager. I can't see how it would hurt to do something 'non-sitting' every 90 mins or so.
A Stack O everyone gets a standing desk. I can't imagine not having one. Well, I can, that's how I did it for most of my life.
It took me about a week to adapt -- sore calves and feet, which passed. A "standing mat" or "anti-fatigue" mat (Google 'em) helps a lot. And take off your shoes.
So _why_ is it good to burn more calories? This is one of those 'facts' that are never questioned. Why not just run your body at lower calories per day? I do not have a weight problem and I feel fine. I guess I just do not eat more then I need. Does not higher caloric throughput just wear out your body?
This assumes that the any benefits of standing arise from energy-burning. However, they could arise from control issues: having to make continual small adjustments to muscle tensions in the legs effects the way that attention is distributed in the nervous system.
If we're going to be strict about things though, we should take into account the fact that standing rather than sitting all day may have bad effects as well.
On the whole, simply measuring calories is a pretty poor metric for health. I'd say the health benefits are probably much greater and broader than the 300 calories this thing is telling me I'd save.
I'd go one step further and say that the calories are actually one of the most superficial aspects of standing instead of sitting (which really shows how much American perception of health and wellness have gone wrong). I'd say the most important aspects are the impact on organs, muscles, bones, tendons, and joints. Not to mention improved circulation, etc.
In all honesty, I'm not sure I could code as well standing up. When I'm in "the zone" I'm always sitting on the edge of my seat, typically right at the point where either I'll fall out or the chair will go flying backwards if I move too much. It's not a concious thing. I've always worked like that, and I can stay like that for hours. Standing might just be different enough to break the process.
But the rest of the time? Sure, I'd love to work standing up. Sitting in a chair (inside) for eight, nine, ten hours a day drives me nuts.