On your feet! Standing desks make us more productive

Stand and deliver! You don’t have to be a dandy highwayman to spend your working day on your feet, but upright desks have just been proven to promote productivity.

Ah, sorry about the Adam and the Ants earworm. I’ve just googled the video on Youtube, and it’s even more execrable than you remember, so I don’t advise it.

But I do recommend that you upgrade to an adjustable workstation. I wouldn’t be without mine.

A report in the British Medical Journal revealed that standing desks led to a 43 per cent improvement in performance and a 52 per cent increase in engagement among previously sedentary NHS employees.

They were given a choice between sitting or standing, but my recommendation is to go cold turkey and use your chair in your home office as a place to drape laundry, store invoices and keep an emergency hot water bottle, for those chilly autumnal days when it’s not quite cold enough to warrant putting the heating on.

My Varidesk is a thing of beauty and efficiency, and after almost a year of using it, I like to think I am, too. I’m certainly more alert and less slumpy, if that’s an acceptable HR word. Better at my job? Certainly more energised.

Experts always advise us to stand up when making important phone calls, because it boosts confidence and places less pressure on the diaphragm, leading to a clearer and more authoritative voice.

Once I’d installed my desk and stopped pretending to be on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, barking commands to Mr Spock about reaching warp factor five, I have to say I felt more focused and less inclined to waste time.

I can multitask by pulling in my core muscles. There’s even a kettlebell beside the desk so I can exercise. Although I don’t, obviously.

Instead, I tend to wander off when I lose concentration. Which can also be good for you: apparently, the next big thing is working as you walk on a treadmill.