When was the standing desk invented?

The maxim &#;Don&#;t reinvent the wheel&#; speaks to the fact that people are constantly in pursuit of the most efficient tool or method. However, more often than not, the most efficient solution already exists&#;just waiting to be used.

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Although the stand up desk is often treated as a new fad&#;the stuff of hipsters and techies&#;it is a tried and tested tool with a long track record of proven success. The recent boom in the standing desk&#;s popularity is not reinventing so much as rediscovering the wheel.

The list of standing desk users reads as a veritable &#;who&#;s who&#; of historical and literary significance. Here is just a snapshot of the people who leveraged the standing desk&#;s benefits throughout history.

&#;s: Da Vinci&#;s Favorite Tool

Although no individual can be named as the inventor of the standing desk, Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps its earliest known user. Are you familiar with a half-smiling painting entitled the Mona Lisa (i.e., &#;the best known, most visited, most written about, most sung about, most parodied work of art in the world&#;)? Da Vinci painted it while he stood at his standing desk.

Da Vinci also stood at his desk while sketching new inventions, including parachutes, flying machines, and armored vehicles. Although there&#;s no record of Da Vinci attributing his success to his standing desk, the finished products certainly speak for themselves.

&#;s: Colleges, Presidents, and Dictators

In addition to being used by one of the greatest artists ever known, the standing desk also made its appearance in one of the world&#;s oldest colleges, the University of Cambridge (founded in ). Standing desks were first recorded as being used in the library in , and the idea of writing while standing was placed at the epicenter of intellectual thought.

The mental and creative advantages of standing while working traveled from England to France, where Napoléon Bonaparte took up the standing desk and found it conducive to quick thinking and strategizing for battle. He used his heightened cognitive abilities to create tactical advantages.

On the other side of the ocean, Thomas Jefferson also used the standing desk while composing documents, such as the Declaration of Independence. He, however, was not content with his desk being stuck in one position, so he developed a six-legged adjustable standing desk&#;one of the first known people to use an adjustable standing desk. We&#;d like to think we&#;ve improved on his model.

&#;s: Writing Great Novels and Winning World Wars

Through the centuries, the use of the standing desk continued to grow, even making an appearance in the office of Charles Dickens. His workspace was described as having &#;books all round, up to the ceiling and down to the ground; a standing-desk at which he writes; and all manner of comfortable easy chairs.&#; The standing desk, no doubt, aided the creative process and helped Dickens pen such timeless classics as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities.

As time passed, the standing desk gained popularity for more than just its creative benefits. For example, in an book by George N. Comer, he wrote, &#;I would not, by any means, proscribe the use of the sitting-desk, but recommend the learner to practise, as much as possible, in a standing position; first, because nine-tenths of the business writing is done at standing-desks [&#;], and second because I am satisfied, from long experience and observation, that it is the best position to adopt, both for rapid, continuous writing and health.&#; The standing desk was gaining traction as a tool for efficiency and health.

In the s, the stand up desk remained a hallmark of great world influencers. Winston Churchill was often seen writing at his standing desk. Ernest Hemingway&#;s desk was of the DIY style; amidst the chaos of his office he created &#;a stand up work place [&#;] fashioned out of a bookcase near his bed.&#; In his defense, electric stand up desks were not yet invented.

The standing desk began to grow in commercial popularity, with appearances, including the &#;Hi-Lo Desk Attachment,&#; a standing addition for roll top desks, in catalogues such as Sears Roebuck and Commercial America.

s: Battling the Sedentary Life

With such historical titans standing before us in the pages of history, one would hope that humanity would have widely adopted the standing desk sooner. Unfortunately, the widespread use did not occur until science showed us it was a matter of life and death. In , doctors and researchers across the world connected prolonged sitting to the risk of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer. The threat was called &#;sitting disease.&#; Since nearly 70 percent of people spend six or more hours a day sitting, a sedentary lifestyle has been recognized as being more lethal than smoking&#;and affects nearly everyone. Many have determined to abandon their sedentary life by using a stand up desk, and the advantages are overwhelming.

With such a prodigious history, it&#;s a wonder many didn&#;t adopt stand up desks sooner, but another simple maxim reminds us&#;it&#;s better late than never. So don&#;t delay another day! Join the likes of Da Vinci, Dickens, Jefferson, and Churchill. Fight against the dangers of &#;sitting disease&#; and enjoy the physical and psychological advantages of a standing desk today.

 

Desk used standing

Man working at a standing desk Standing desk with multi-monitor setup and vertical monitor

A standing desk or stand-up desk is a desk conceived for writing, reading or drawing while standing up or while sitting on a high stool.

History

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sit-stand desk made for Marie Antoinette to use while pregnant.[1]

Several writers and statesmen wrote standing up: Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway,[2] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow[3] and Vladimir Nabokov. Some of them had specially made desks or lecterns.[4]

Variations

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Standing dresser desk A woman using a sit-stand desk in its standing position.

Standing desks have been made in many styles and variations. Standing desks may be specialized to suit particular tasks, such as certain variations of the desk and desks for architectural drafting. Some standing desks may only be used while standing while others allow users to sit or stand by adjusting the desk height with an electric motor, hand crank, or counterbalance system.[5] Some desks are also constructed like teacher's lecterns, allowing them to be set on top of an existing desk for standing, or removed for sitting.

While height of most seated desks is standardized, standing desks are made in many different heights ranging from 70 to 128 centimetres (28 to 50 in). Ideally the height of a standing desk fits the height of its individual user. With seated desks, adjusting the height relative to the user can be accomplished by adjusting the height of the user's chair. However, because users of a standing desk move around more than when seated, using a pedestal to adjust the user's height is not practical.

To solve this issue, a standing desk may either be custom-made, to suit the height of the user, or made with adjustable parts. For writing or drafting, the angle or slant of the surface may be adjustable, with a typical drawing table or table à la tronchin. If the desk is made for computer use, the legs may be adjustable. Another option is a platform made to sit on top of a regular seated desk that raises the desk's surface to a useful height for standing. Such platforms may be fixed height or adjustable.

A height-adjustable desk or sit-stand desk can be adjusted to both sitting and standing positions; this is purported to be healthier than the sit-only desk. Sit-stand desks may be effective at reducing sitting time during the work day between 30 minutes and two hours per working day but the evidence is low quality.[6]

Some antique standing desks have an open frame with drawers, and a foot rail (similar to those seen at a bar) to reduce back pain. A hinged desktop could be lifted in order to access a small cabinet underneath it so that the user could store or retrieve papers and writing implements without needing to bend over or stand back from the desk.

Effect on health

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There is a significantly higher mortality rate among people who regularly sit for prolonged periods, and the risk is not negated by regular exercise, though it is lowered.[7][8]

Low-quality evidence indicates that providing employees with a standing desk option may reduce the length of time some people sit in the first year.[6] This reduction in sitting may decrease with time.[6] It is not clear how standing desks compare to other work-place interventions to reduce the length of time employees are sitting during the work day.[6]

Sit-stand workstations may reduce low back pain among people in the workplace. In a sedentary population, changing posture may reduce the chance of developing low back pain.[9]

There is no international consensus on recommended levels of sitting and standing while at work, and suggested workplace practices vary in different countries.[6]

See also

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References

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Further reading

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