Why I'm Standing Up

Earlier this year a colleague circulated an article about the risk of deep vein thrombosis to people who sit down a lot at work. I figured I didn't have a lot to worry about. But then I saw an item on the CBC television news about severe health risks to anyone who habitually sits for more than two hours at a time. Well, it's not unusual for me to spend as much as 16 hours on the computer in one day, and many of my favourite recreational activities (movies, reading, knitting, dining out, TV) are also sedentary. So I got scared and decided to see whether I could make a change.

So here's stage one: the makeshift standing workstation. Notice it's adjustable (just add or subtract photo albums and atlases of the world as needed.) I've been using it for two days now, and it doesn't seem to affect my work at all, but my feet are a bit sore and I went to bed remarkably early yesterday.

I find it helps to play bouncy music (currently: "Fire in Me Wire" by Calypso Rose), because then I remember to move around a bit. Also, I'm grateful I have a decent pair of Reeboks from Winners.

I've also been figuring out how to avoid sitting for other activities. How about this one: standing up while watching TV? I watched a World Cup game yesterday while standing, and it went just fine. Then last night I stretched out on the floor to read a book and found it really comfy. However, my sweetie Jonathan treated me like a crazy person, as if he'd caught me shaving my head or giving myself a home tattoo.

This may end up being one of those one-post blogs, but I thought it might help me keep up with this if I posted about it, even occasionally. Let's see how it goes.