WASHINGTON — Standing desks are becoming a more common sight in offices, as more people heed the advice to stop sitting so much.
Lean Plate Club™ blogger Sally Squires explains that a guy named Nathan Edelson is credited with the idea, but that others expanded on it: A Berkley psychology professor named Seth Roberts designed a treadmill desk in 1996 and was an early user. Dr. James Levine, at the Mayo Clinic, has had a big impact in promoting and studying these desks.
Squires says many of the exercise desks use treadmills, but stationary bikes also are used. Ellipticals, stair climbers and rowing machines don’t work well for obvious reasons: Your head bobs up and down so you can’t really work and could start to feel seasick. Using a treadmill desk, you can burn 100 to 200 calories an hour at a low speed — about 1 to 2 mph. That can add up over the course of an eight-hour day.
And productivity doesn’t seem to be affected. A psychology professor at Clemson University tested students taking parts of the LSATs and other tests. They used a desk attached to a stationary bicycle — a FitDesk— rather than a treadmill.
They found that complex cognitive performance when using the FitDesk was stable, and similar to that of the traditional desk. This suggests no drawback to the use of light physical movement while at work or study.
The study also found that positive affect, motivation and morale all increased when using the FitDesk over the traditional desk.
