The Dangers of Sitting All Day

The news over the past couple of years is that sitting is especially unhealthy. I read an article in Runner's World awhile back that said sitting is as bad for your health as smoking! So what is a writer to do? Get a standing desk, of course, and perhaps a treadmill to go with it. There's a whole store near me devoted to desks designed for standing or walking, called appropriately "Work While Walking." At the moment I'm going back and forth between sitting at the beautiful maple desk I bought for my home office almost 15 years ago, and standing at the kitchen counter with my wireless keyboard and mouse on the counter and my laptop perched on a cereal box so the screen is at the right height.

The situation is not ideal, but I'm reluctant to part with my desk. It's real wood, it's a lovely piece of furniture, and I paid good money for it. Standing desks don't look as good, and they don't come with drawers and filing cabinets and hutches. I looked into getting a contraption that I can connect to my desk to give me a higher work surface, but the hutch (see photo) gets in the way.

It is possible to get a standing desk made from bamboo, which is a material I like, so long as it is not growing out-of-control in my backyard. At my old house I had carpet torn out and bamboo flooring installed. I like that bamboo is a renewable resource (although I have read information saying it's not as green as marketing literature would have you believe) and looks great. But bamboo desks are expensive.  I'm not sure what to do.