I’ve always been interested in the standing desk revolution but never really had the opportunity to investigate any of the options until recently. In my day job, getting a standing desk wasn’t really an option, whilst at home, adding a motorised desk to the office would involve a significant reshuffle of furniture.

However, a friend bought themselves a Varidesk and very kindly lent it to me for a weekend. The Varidesk is a great halfway house idea to allow people to convert their existing desk situation into a moveable standing desk instead. Two small levers either side of the main desk part, allow you to raise and lower the level at will, making it easy to stand or sit without committing to either one.

I was impressed after just a day or two of using the desk and was sad when I had to give it back to my generous friend. So I quickly bought one and have been using it ever since.

We didn’t get off to the best start, my desk and I, because it had a horrible sticker on it that I immediately took off only to find it left that gunky sticky stuff behind. I cleaned the desk so hard that some of the black sheen came off, but thankfully it was on a part of the surface that would soon be covered by gadgets.

There’s a Varidesk app which is designed to help you keep track of how much you are standing and sitting. I found this useful to start with, as it would ping notifications at you to say when you have stood for 10 minutes, and then sat down for 10 minutes. The times were variable so you can use it as a sort of training tool to get you into the habit of standing more than sitting.

I don’t use the app so much any more, because the notifications became annoying when I was at work and my desk was at home, and because I stand when I feel like I need to. Sometimes I stand for a good portion of the evening/weekend, other times I’m tired from a long week and find sitting more comfortable. The amazing thing now is that I have the choice, and it really didn’t take too much investment in time, money, or revamping an entire office room, to get to this point.