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Standing Desks – Save your back, change your life
- surajgupta 11y agoReally appreciate the level of detail of this blog post. Thank you!
- mhurron 11y agoI put one in at home, and work from home more now. The one thing that isn't the standing desk that makes it work, that is also mentioned in the article, is a wireless headset. Without it, that desk would be a total pain in the ass to work at.
- pimpl 11y agoI've been using this one in the office for some time and it's really comfortable and visually pleasing as well: http://biurkobiurko.com/ http://biurkobiurko.com/
- akilism 11y agothese look pretty nice.
- vjrobinson 11y agoDang - I spent nearly $1000 on mine UpliftDesk. This could've saved me a ton. Beauty is if you pack your bags and work remote from some other geography you can take this sucker with you - amazing!
- analog31 11y agoThanks for the nice post. I'm already a convert. I was suffering from some neck pain issues, which have gone away. In fact I'm kinda the "standing desk guy" at my workplace. Here's the remaining problem. I work in an open-plan office area, I've got a desk that can be raised and lowered. But my desk is next to a hallway with a lot of traffic. When I'm standing to work, I'm face to face with a colleague who is very curious about what I do, and likes to get into conversations. And I think that because I'm standing up, everybody who walks buy thinks that I am the receptionist for my entire work group: "Is Bill here today? Do you know if Steve went to his meeting? When does Chris usually come in?" And when someone comes to ask me a legitimate question, all of my colleagues feel free to join the discussion, sometimes answering my question -- wrong -- before I can get a word in edgewise. These are more open-office issues than standing-desk issues, but I'm just offering a warning that y'all in open plan offices may have some additional issues to contend with when you switch to a standing desk. Style-wise, I'd love to have one of those gray metal foreman's desks that they had in old the fashioned factories.
- dasil003 11y agoHave you thought about getting a screen (like one for changing clothes) to put between your desk and the hallway?
- ohitsdom 11y agoVery sad that this is a measure employees need to consider in the modern workplace.
- gesman 11y agoMy neck pain went away when I lowered my chair and uppered my screen so the line of eyes is in the middle of screen space.
- pavel_lishin 11y agoDo you wear headphones? That might help.
- analog31 11y agoThey are a distraction for me. I'm a musician, and if I hear music, I analyze it. Also, I don't want to damage my hearing. Safety ear muffs might be an alternative, especially since their purpose would be obvious.
- pavel_lishin 11y agoHave you considered wearing some and not listening to anything? Just as a purely signaling device?
- kevinmchugh 11y agoDoes your office culture respect headphones as a request to not be interrupted? Hunting earmuffs are useful if you don't want to actually listen to music. I've used http://smile.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-H10A-Optime-Earmuff/dp/B00009LI4K http://smile.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-H10A-Optime-Earmuff/dp/B00... off and on for almost 3.5 years and they're comfortable for hours at a time and block most noise very effectively.
- melling 11y agoHere's a prior HN discussion on affordable standing desks that I have in my notes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8552613 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8552613 I question his choice of keyboards. Most keyboards use cheap rubber dome switches and not mechanical ones. People will spend a lot of money on a good keyboard like this Kickstarter project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keyboardio/the-model-01-an-heirloom-grade-keyboard-for-seriou https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keyboardio/the-model-01... ...or build their own like an ErgoDox: http://www.ergodox.org http://www.ergodox.org This StackOverFlow sister site question illustrates several mechanical switches: http://superuser.com/questions/366221/differences-between-cherry-mechanical-keyboard-switches http://superuser.com/questions/366221/differences-between-ch...
- kawsper 11y agoIKEA also sells height-adjustable desks in some (most?) countries. I have one at home and are very pleased.
- redtuesday 11y agoDito. I have the Bekant (160cm * 80cm and adujstable height between 65cm and 125cm) at home which costs around 550 usd where I live (20% tax already included) and has 10 years warranty (most a lot more expensive desks have only 2-3 years). I can sit and stand at the desk but I sometimes use a sports trampoline for mild jumping or a treadmill to walk at the desk (like linus torvalds). [1] Some studies suggest a 8 hour workday should consist of 60% sitting, 20% standing and 20% walking (no link at hand since I'm not at my regular pc). In some countries Ikea has an even more affordable sit-stand desk called Skarsta. [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSgUPqygAww https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSgUPqygAww [2] http://www.ikea.com/jo/en/catalog/products/S29084966/ http://www.ikea.com/jo/en/catalog/products/S29084966/
- wlscaudill 11y agoThanks for comment, I didn't know about the Kickstarter Keyboard (I just backed it). I have to use a split keyboard to avoid wrist pain so my options are very limited. If this isn't an issue for you then the Das Keyboard is very nice in my opinion.
- rimantas 11y agoStanding Desks—replace one set of health problems with a different set.
- atom_enger 11y agoCan you elaborate on this? I'm debating whether or not I should get one.
- swozey 11y agoGet something like a Varidesk that allows you to put it up/down and is affordable. There's been studies that varicose veins and things of that nature in your legs happen if you stand up all day long.
- bdkoepke 11y agoSit-stand desk is probably the best with the information we currently have. http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/13/the-dangers-of-sitting-at-work%E2%80%94and-standing/ http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/13/the-dangers-of-sitting... http://vuir.vu.edu.au/21403/1/Van_Uffelen_Occupational_sitting_and_health_risks_Am_J_Prev_Med.pdf http://vuir.vu.edu.au/21403/1/Van_Uffelen_Occupational_sitti... Like everything in life, moderation is the key. If you are getting up and down from your desk regularly anyway then the health benefits wouldn't be very large. Standing all day isn't particularly good for you either. I believe the science is still out on this. My main issue with the current studies is that the occupations are different. For instance, what is the difference in stress between a GP and an accountant? As far as I'm aware, there haven't been any studies that compare mortality that control for the 'same occupation'. The studies thus-far have only shown that people who have occupations that require standing tend to have lower all-cause mortality than those whose occupations usually involve sitting. If there is such a study then I’m interested in reading it.
- jerf 11y ago"I believe the science is still out on this." As near as I can tell, the science verges on non-existant... there's a few studies that sample a smidge of the space, but nowhere near enough to draw very interesting conclusions. Standing desks seem to help, at least in the short term, but the question is, why? If, for instance, they help because the people in the study are, well, average Americans, and the standing desks help develop core muscle strength, yes, that will improve their lives. But if it is about that, then you could probably do much better with much less effort by directly performing exercises that strengthen your core, without incurring the risk of knee damage from a standing desk. And of course if standing is good for some other reason, that won't help the problems at all. As near as I can tell, science has nothing to say about this particular rather simple question yet. We have roughly one point in the relevant space and a whole bunch of people drawing a lot of lines through it very excitedly based on biases and preconceived notions, but nowhere near enough data. Or, basically, business as usual in the world of health and fitness. (Sadly.) Personally I focus on strength training directly and leave the standing desk issue aside. YMMV. (Which I mean seriously. Like it or not, you have to put your chips down based on what you know now, not the science of 2060.) Let's all get together and compare notes in 30 years.
- jseliger 11y agoGood article. I just submitted a similar one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9873773 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9873773 . I use a GeekDesk: http://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/24/geekdesk-max-sit-stand-desk-review-two-years-with-a-motorized-desk/ http://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/24/geekdesk-max-sit-stand-des... and wouldn't go back to a normal desk if I could at all avoid it.
- 725686 11y agoI it works for you, fine, but I think the standing desk is more of a trendy/cool thing: http://www.fitdeskjockey.com/7-reasons-why-you-dont-want-a-standing-workstation http://www.fitdeskjockey.com/7-reasons-why-you-dont-want-a-s...
- blowski 11y agoAgreed. My doctor said to me that a lot of people raving about standing desks in their 20s will have serious regrets about them in their 50s. He also said that being seated but moving around for a few minutes every hour was fine, which is a similar point to that made in the article - standing still for an hour is just as inactive as sitting still for an hour.
- darkstar999 11y ago> standing still for an hour is just as inactive as sitting still for an hour. That's not true. Everything I have read about it says that standing burns more calories. I notice that I shift my weight and move my legs, etc, when I am standing. It's marginal, but there is definitely a difference.
- blowski 11y agoI'm no health expert, so take what I say with a pinch of (low-sodium) salt. However, it does seem to me that the amount of calories you burn standing up for a few hours is not going to make much difference to your health.
- darkstar999 11y agoI've had less back pain since I started standing at work, and I've heard many similar stories. You can also "walk in place" to get the heart rate up. Good luck doing that in a chair.
- wlscaudill 11y ago
- programminggeek 11y agoI've got a sort of wacky treadmill desk setup in my basement. Got a cheap treadmill off of Craigslist for like $200, spent maybe $15 on a simple shelf board and a piece of foam I cut up to get the shelf at the right height, and I got the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard and Logitech M570 trackball mouse, both are amazing. I don't walk constantly, but it's a fantastic setup.
- atwebb 11y agoPretty much exactly what I did, $25 treadmill at a yard sale, lay a board across the arms for a "desk", have a shelf mounted on the wall above the treadmill console for my monitor and hook the laptop up to a wireless keyboard/mouse set.
- thruflo 11y agoWe do an open source one you can make yourself https://www.opendesk.cc/lean/standing-desk https://www.opendesk.cc/lean/standing-desk
- anotherevan 11y agoStill wanting to see a design for a height adjustable sit/standing desk. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6234588 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6234588
- thruflo 11y agoThe standing desk is sit / stand height adjustable. It is quite heavy, realistically taking two people to adjust, so you wouldn't normally adjust it too often but it has three heights: standing, bar and sitting, as outlined in the description.
- odiroot 11y agoThere is one question though, what about varicose veins forming in legs due to prolonged standing?
- wlscaudill 11y agoLots of swaying and occasionally stepping back and fourth a few times is important and will keep the blood moving which combats things like varicose veins. There is no substitute for taking breaks and getting a good walk in...
- ljk 11y agoTried standing desk for a while, imo something that should also be done is film yourself standing for a period of time so you can tell if your standing posture is correct; if you're standing the wrong way then it's pretty much useless
- CPLX 11y agoI appreciate the sentiment of this blog post, but wow, those are some seriously ugly creations to have to look at all day.
- wlscaudill 11y agoI need to update the pictures of the IKEA desk and cart as they don't look too bad. The mobile desk on the other hand is not all that pretty but it's a work in progress and should get better over time... "Functional first, sexy second!" I'll suffer an ugly desk that allows me to fly anywhere on the planet and work comfortably enough.
- frandroid 11y agoI use the now discontinued Ikea Fjus shelf unit (https://samnangp.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/ikea-shelf-project-3/; https://samnangp.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/ikea-shelf-project... now available as a Gorm, Hejne or Ivar, all of which have one less shelf) which I have adjusted. One shelf is my external keyboard tray, another shelf is my macbook support, at eye level. $30 standing desk.
- buro9 11y agoMy current favoured solution: 1. Take any desk 2. Put an Ergotron WorkFit T on it. It's this: http://www.ergotron.com/ProductsDetails/tabid/65/PRDID/915/language/en-GB/Default.aspx http://www.ergotron.com/ProductsDetails/tabid/65/PRDID/915/l... The neat things about it: it raises straight up and down, it's cheap, it fits any standard desk, it accounts for keyboard, it's highly stable. It just works, and it's so cheap that it's the go-to solution.
- amelius 11y agoAre you using it?
- buro9 11y agoAt home yes, used to have the the Workfit model with the sloped central stand (mentioned in the article). This one is better as the keyboard tray doesn't come forward of the desk, the position doesn't move forward and backwards with height raise/lower, and it is more stable. This is what we're going to be using for those who want sit/stand desks in the CloudFlare London office in a month or so when we move office.
- amelius 11y agoVery interesting. Thanks for sharing!
- wlscaudill 11y agoI know someone with a VariDesk which is similar and they like it very much. Thanks for sharing the info on the new Ergotron one!
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- eterm 11y agoProduct pages without the price makes me think I can't afford their prices. Last time I encountered that was an Aeron chair. As much as I'd love one, I can't justify dropping £800 on a chair nor would I be able to persuade my boss.
- fizixer 11y agoWhat about the feet? You'll start having problems associated with long standing hours[1]? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_complications_of_standing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_complications_of_sta...
- quaffapint 11y agoI've found if you work from home getting a dog does wonders. I no longer can sit for any major length of time since he wants to go out and play at least every hour during the day. It's amazing how much better things got all around both mentally and physically taking those 'dog breaks'.