Standing is NEAT

There's a new fad in the office! A colleague on my team rearranged her cube today and now her computer is on her bookshelf. She created a standing desk! Apparently another member of our staff located back by the conference rooms has had her desk like this for weeks. Everyone was drawn to the new standing desk. I am intrigued.

NEAT is the acronym for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. Basically you can burn extra calories everyday doing things that are not exercise. Fidgeting burns extra calories. Talking with your hands burns extra calories. Standing burns extra calories. You can burn an additional 50 calories an hour simply by standing instead of sitting.

I wear high heels at work. This deters me from switching to the standing desk. However, I would be interested in wearing my heart rate monitor for a day of sitting at my desk and another day of standing. Then I'd have a better grasp on this NEAT stuff.