With standing desks all the rage now, many people are searching for more information about adjustable desks before making a purchase decision. So, if you’re also wondering whether standing desks are good for you, keep reading this article in which we covered the most frequently asked questions you may want to make clear.
Question: How High Should a Standing Desk Be?
It’s necessary to consider several parameters to set an ideal height for your standing desk - how tall you are, how large your screen is, and where you place your keyboard and mouse. The easiest way to define a proper desk’s height is based on your height.
You can do a small test:
- Stand tall and bend your elbows at 90 degrees;
- Elevate your desk until you can place your arms on it and operate your mouse and keyboard comfortably;
- Ensure your eyes meet the top third of the monitor and adjust the desk’s height correspondingly.
Once you find your perfect desk height, save this position with a memory keypad if your standing desk supports this option.
Question: How Often Should You Stand Up from Your Desk?
While there are no strict recommendations of how much time we should spend sitting or standing, a common practice is to switch from sitting to standing every 30 minutes to an hour. Generally, experts say that it would be beneficial for health to have two to four hours of standing per day, but this does depend much on your physical condition, job specifics, and working day duration.
Question: Does a Standing Desk Burn More Calories?
Studies proved that people burn about 0.15 calories per minute while standing, an average number for both genders. With this said, men can burn up to 0.2 calories, while women are able to use 0.1 calories a minute. For example, let’s say you work from nine to five, standing for eight hours in a row. If we do a simple calculation based on the average calories people burn when standing, the result would be 72 calories burned daily (8 hours x 60 x 0.15). The same calories you can spend within ten minutes on a treadmill or taking a short office-to-home walk.
Learn more about our standing desks and bring more activity to your workspace!
How to Use a Standing Desk?
Follow these simple recommendations to get the most out of your standing desk.
- Set Proper Height
You should adjust your desk so your elbows are bent at approximately 90 degrees, ensuring you can operate with your mouse and keyboard without curving your wrist up and down. Also, ensure that there is no tension in your shoulders and back and that your neck is straight.
- Elevate Your Screen to Eye Level
Having your monitor or laptop at eye level will help you maintain a physiologically correct posture and prevent back and neck pain. Moreover, by raising your monitor, you’ll free up more space at your desk that you can use for other essentials. We have a broad assortment of monitor risers and stands that meet diverse needs; take a look!
- Stand On a Shock-Absorbing Surface
When we stand, our knees, heels, and ankles experience high pressure that can lead to uncomfortable feelings or even pain. The best solution is to stand on an amortizing surface – a foam mat, for example. To that end, we developed an anti-fatigue mat to cushion pressure on your feet while standing.
- Make time for stretching and exercising
Whereas switching from sitting to standing gives you a bit of movement throughout the day, you’ll still need more activity to add to your workstyle to keep your back healthy, muscles relaxed, and joints mobile. It’s a good idea to implement short breaks for doing simple stretching to energize your body and reactivate your mind.
- Provide Your Back an Adequate Support
Since the best way to use a standing desk is to alternate sitting and standing, it’s vital to have ergonomic and comfortable seating. It should give you proper lumbar support and an adjustable headrest, to name a few. Therefore, we created our Glyder chairs range considering the anatomy of the human body to make long hours of sitting lesser impacts on people’s health.
Are Standing Desks Good for Your Back?
Numerous studies declare that standing desks have contributed to improving office employees' lower back and neck pain by 32%. However, although a standing desk is a progressive instrument to help alleviate some conditions related to improper body position, the key is to shift regularly from sitting to standing and watch your posture at all times.
Where to Buy a Standing Desk?
With many companies selling standing desks, we’re confident in providing our customers with the best quality products. We offer many options of desk frames and tabletops to fit home or office environments. Moreover, as we want you to have the best adjustable desk, we enable you to build your ideal standing desk using our Desk Builder! It’s also worth mentioning that here, in Progressive Desk, we use the highest quality MDF materials for our tabletops, ensuring products’ reliability and longevity. In addition, the assembly of our standing desks is hassle-free, with clear instructions in detailed manuals and video guides.
Wrapping Up
A standing desk may be a good investment in your healthier workstyle, boosting your work effectiveness and productivity. Set up your standing desk’s height, make sure your monitors are at eye level, complement your workstation with an ergonomic chair, and take regular breaks, and improvement in how you feel during your working day will be no long in coming!
If you want to learn more about standing desks and choose your best one, reach out to us right away! We’re here for you at sales@progressivedesk.com or 1-800-828-9414.