John Galligan begins each day early. The Madison College English instructor sits at his desk in the wee hours of dawn brainstorming and writing fiction. But Galligan has much more in store for the day, and this may be the last time he sits down for any length of time.

Galligan has been teaching at Madison Area Technical College for the past 27 years. His career experiences include writing five novels, newspaper reporting, screenwriting, and photography. As an accomplished author, he guides students through such courses are Creative Writing-Fiction, and English 1.

Though he’s currently teaching five classes, in addition to a daily diligence in personal writing, he agreed to meet with me to discuss his unusual working style. When Galligan gets to his office at the downtown Madison College campus, he doesn’t settle down at his desk, or sink into a comfy chair for a few hours of essay grading. Instead, he stands and works.

For the past two years, Galligan’s school day starts and ends with standing. His office desk adjusts and is calibrated neatly to his six-foot-one-inch frame. His office mate came up with the idea to stand, and got permission from the facilities. The college provided the desk, excited and supportive of Galligan mission to invigorate his mind through active work.

The desk can be set to multiple heights, and is currently placed at chest level, giving Galligan a clear view of the deeping fall outside his window. Galligan, when in his office, can be found standing while typing and answering emails. There is a regular desk, crammed into the cubicle of space behind Galligan, looking unused and forgotten. The top of his standing desk however is littered with signs of a hardworking teacher. Headphones rest on a stack of papers, and the phone blinks with awaiting voicemails. This isn’t a place for relaxing.

“When I stand up, I am all business,” Galligan said. “I don’t mess around at all.  And so get my work done faster, I think I stay more focused.”

Greater focus may lead to a more productive day, but there are other reasons Galligan stands up. The habit began in graduate school, when Galligan used to retreat to the library to write his papers.

“I’d go back in the stacks, and clear myself a spot, and stand up back there,” Galligan said. “I just found it easier. Back then I would fall asleep, it’d be late at night and I’d be trying to write a paper, and you can’t really fall asleep standing up.”

Galligan made standing part of his work routine about two years ago, and has even inspired others to take on this method. Though not everyone is initially receptive to the idea of the spending the entire day on their feet. People are mostly surprised, Galligan said. They assume it to be difficult or tiring. But the opposite seems to be true for Galligan and research confirms that sitting can be deadly. A 2009 study of over 17,000 participants found that those who spent a large part of their day sitting, were 54 percent more likely to die of a heart attack than those who did not sit for long periods.

Galligan said he plans to continue working standing, and says it helps his body, as well as his mind. He said standing helps him bring awareness to minor ailments that he might miss if he was sitting down. His active lifestyle extends outside of the office as well. Galligan bikes, swims, walks and does yoga. And the main difference between sitting and standing work, is the freedom to move.

“To me, it involves a lot more motion,” Galligan said.  “When I’m standing up, I might walk over there and come back, I might turn around, I might have on music, I might dance a little bit. I think part of it is that there there’s a lot more spontaneity and fluidity to your body language when you’re standing up.”