At least in one case. A 23-year-old woman, who lives in Manchester UK and works as a typist, wrote me:
I’ve recently been trying out a standing desk, partly due to reading the posts you made about them. For the past few weeks, I have been tending to stand instead of sit when at my laptop, normally for more than 3 hours a day. I sit down when I get bored of standing and I walk around lots.
I was looking out for mental clarity effects but I’ve not seen a clear effect in that direction. What I did find surprising, though, is that my chronic but mild IBS symptoms have abated. I get heartburn/acid reflux regularly, and gut cramping, but since standing more these have all but stopped. I think it’s because standing up puts less pressure on my stomach and gut and leaves them more opened up.
I asked how long she’d had the symptoms (heartburn/acid reflux, etc.):
I think the last 3-4 years, but it’s hard to say when. I think my IBS probably started happening when I started having problems with anxiety but I wasn’t keeping track back then. I’ve suffered from recurring depression for 10 years now, but severe anxiety for me is relatively new. I think it would make sense if it coincided with the anxiety – I’ve heard of Citalopram (an anti-anxiety medicine) also being prescribed in a low dose for IBS, and some of my friends who have taken Citalopram + who have had IBS have had it go away. I never actually got a diagnosis for IBS, but it seems a fair description. The symptoms are heartburn, gut cramping (sometimes very painful) and my stool being quite variable in solidity.
I asked how long had she been standing more than usual:
4 weeks, when I’ve been able to. At work I have to sit, often with bad posture, but the last two weeks I have been on holiday. When I stand, I notice an improvement on the same day that I’ve been standing more. Part of what motivated me to stand with using my computer was when I recently spent a day walking around Manchester (where I live). I noticed that my energy levels were much smoother even though I hadn’t eaten very much and that my gut and stomach felt more OK than usual.
I asked what other remedies she’d tried:
I used to work standing sometimes: I’d simply put a small drawing board on top of a filing cabinet, rather like a lectern, and work away, sitting only to use my desktop computer. Since I had a row of four filing cabinets it meant that I had a huge horizontal surface for paper-shuffling. Nowadays use of a laptop would make everything easier.
When I wear trousers which are too tight I get stomach cramps, too, after sitting a few hours.
Funny thing is, apart from the cramps I won’t notice they are too tight. So when I buy new trousers sometimes I end up with severe cramps and even circulatory problems up to fainting before I notice the clothing being too tight.