In January of last year my wife had had enough of me wandering through the house complaining of my muscles aching. (Indeed they made a very unsatisfying crack when I entered the bath).  Her solution was to send me to a flexibility class at our local wellness centre.

I underwent six weeks of hell under the tuition of a Norwegian hippie who had spent the last thirty years either in the gym, doing yoga or eating in a sensible fashion.  She was fine but I was a mess as she worked out my knotted muscles.  And there was one bit of advice that she gave me. “Get a standing desk”.

So I did.  It took about two months to get used to; but once I was up and running I was happy to do standing all that I used  to do sitting.  According to the boffins we burn 50 calories per hour when standing at your desk.  Not just that it can help lower the risk of cardio-vascular disease.  So standing at your desk for at least part of the day has to be part of everyone’s wellness programme.  (Well those of us who work at desks as opposed to people cycling the Tour de France for a living).

Over the last 18 months I have found using a standing desk has been very beneficial.  It has improved my flexibility and a lot of the aches and pains have disappeared.  In fact I have started to bore people at parties about the virtues of standing desks.

So a couple of weeks ago I was asked to review the Varidesk Pro Plus 36.  As the name suggests this is a desk (or rather an add-on to your current desk) which can be made into either a sitting or a standing desk.  As you can see from the photograph when fully extended it can add around 50cm to the height of your workspace.  Given its multilayers you end up (or at least I do) with about 50% more overall desk space.  Moving from sitting to standing takes moving two levers and a couple of seconds of your time.

When the package arrived I was slightly concerned as to how I was going to assemble it.  I’ll ‘fess up that my wife has told me that I’m fairly cack-handed when it goes to assembling furniture.  So you can imagine the wreaths of smiles on my face when I realise that it had been pre-assembled and took no more than 30 seconds to set up on my desk.  Very stable it can fit two monitors and a laptop with easy so you won’t have to worry that it won’t fit all your gadgets.

In fact it gives you the feel that you are captaining your own star ship – which for me makes it cheap at twice the price if you are a nerd like me.  It also makes taking a break easier which is good for your eyesight and fatigue levels.

Are these any down sides?  Well it is so easy to use that I’ve worked suiting down for a few hours this week but again you can move it up so fast and because it is so stable at no risk to your kit.  So there is always the temptation to make the Varidesk do what it says on the tin – that is be of variable height.  But this does mean it is great for people getting into using standing desk for the first time. 

That being said you will also need to purchase a standing mat which (see photo of below) this makes it much easier on the joints standing for a whole day at your desk.

I have to say that when I first saw the price of £345 I considered it a bit excessive but after using it for 10m days I can honestly say that this will replay the cost both in improved productivity in the short term and improved health in the longer run.

If you are thinking about getting one (and I do think you should) then drop into to the Varidesk website here.  You won’t be disappointed.