Office Workers: Could You Stand All Day?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26937454
I could probably manage the morning!

[WELSHYORKIE]

Definitely not - not with my back........

[albaqwerty]

standing up, typing on a keyboard and squinting at a monitor would surely be more uncomfy?
I can't stand still for more than 20 minutes without getting a 'locked' back.

[sp1814]

TTT

It could work, but it would have to be limited.

My old company trailed a system whereby some meeting rooms had all chairs removed, so that meetings held in those rooms would be 'standing conferences'. The idea is that when people meet stood up, they would get to the point of the meeting sooner, and then get back to their jobs after quickly deciding on a course of action.

Of course...everyone avoided those meeting rooms like the plague, and soon thereafter all the chairs were put back in.

[andy-hughes]

The only place where standing has proved profitable is pubs.

So-called 'vertical' bars have spring up all over the place because research shows that people drink more when they stand up, and less when they are sitting down.

As to the question - standing, or sitting is a matter of getting used to one or the other.

Office workers like me sit all day, and I have done for more than forty years, not keen on changing now.

But people like hairdressers stand all day - and are perfectly used to it.

In my mearly twenties I used to sit at a desk all day, work in my mum and dad's shop on Saturdays and Sunday mornings, and DJ from 8:30 until 2:00 a.m. two or three nights a week - only the office job was sitting, the rest involved standing for hours.

You can get used to anything once you have done it for a while.

[hc4361]

Standing is a cause of varicose veins in the legs.

[AB Editor]

I would like some sort of bar/stool situation myself :)

[shaneystar2]

Very true hc ..mine are like ordnance survey maps after a life of being on my feet at work .
I don't think I could stand in one position all day though which it seems these people are doing .At least those working in shops etc move about .

[ladyalex]

In the 19th century and early 20th century clerks worked standing at high desks all day as a matter of course.

[baza]

my first job in a shop was standing all day, second job in an office and spent most of the day standing. My last job in a ticket office required sitting at a window and resulted in DVT and early retirement, which is best, I do not know.

[youngmafbog]

Would be difficult to manage the afternoon if you have been in the boozer all lunchtime !

[angie55]

I was always told that the correct posture when sitting in front of a PC was that the screen should be the same height as your head so you are not constantly bending your neck. The second photo in the article clearly breaks that rule.

[Sqad]

Yes......excellent idea, as long as i could sit down for my elevensies and lunch.

Varicose veins?.......naaah! if you are going to get them, sitting or standing is just as bad.

Good post by ladyalex. ^^^

[woofgang]

I am fairly sure, but can't find a link, that in victorian times, maybe earlier, shop girls we made to stand all day and it caused much suffering. More generous shop keepers would provide high stools for the girls to use when not serving.

[baza]

I seem to remember Woolworths used to have little fold down seats behind the counters for the girls to sit on.

[ladyalex]

Thanks , sqad.

The clerks had a stool, but it was for leaning on, not sitting on.

[Old_Geezer]

Not initially no, but one gets used to things.
That said the employer that tried that on would have crossed the line and could not expect me to stay and put up with it. We all know the reason would be so they could save on buying chairs, and blow the staff, they aren't important.

[emmie]

not in a million years, not even when i was working, its not a good idea

[pixie373]

It isn't good for you to be sitting or standing all day. Moving around us better. Anything else is unnatural.

[Eve]

I couldn't do it now and not sure how it would work well in an office environment as to how you'd manage desks as you can't have everyone standing as some people won't want to (especially if no need to) or be able to.

I had jobs when I'd be on my feet all day, waitressing, kitchen work, supermarket etc... but you're moving around quite a bit - that said when I worked on the cigarette kiosk in a supermarket I didn't move around that much.

I know people who sit at a desk on one of those large fit balls to help their core stability and strength.