If you have ever looked into designing a productive work environment, you may have heard of standing desks. Standing desks may be becoming even more prevalent now that people are working from home. Anyone looking to switch things up, improve their workspaces, maintain their health, and get more work done should consider standing desks.
Standing desks are popular as they are known to alleviate the risks associated with sitting, such as health issues, weight gain, and decreased productivity. Besides their practical benefits, the popularity of standing desks has grown due to good marketing. There are many varieties of standing desks in the market that cater to diverse needs.
Before investing, you may wonder whether the supposed benefits of standing desks are really legitimate. Without further ado, let’s take a deeper dive into standing desks and why you should consider them.
Why Standing Desks Are Popular
The most common reasons why standing desks are popular are their supposed health benefits. Not only do health blogs and productivity gurus recommend standing desks, but office furniture manufacturers and e-commerce stores have also marketed them as ways to improve health.
You may have heard that some health claims are overblown – standing desks are not what proponents make them out to be.However, most benefits causing standing desks to be popular workspace options have been backed by studies. This is why standing desks are arguably not overrated.
Standing Lowers Risk of Diseases
The first benefit of standing desks is that they allow you to work while standing. Sitting all day causes discomfort, but you would probably ignore potential health risks associated with sitting. There are studies that found how prolonged sitting can increase the risk of premature death. This is because prolonged sitting has been linked with increased risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
For instance, prolonged sitting has been attributed to a 147% increase in the risk of developing heart disease. The ill effects of prolonged sitting are great – one hour of daily physical exercise cannot reduce the damages inflicted on the body, if the remainder of the day was spent sitting.
Thus, standing is important to the long-term prevention of health problems. Having periods of standing while you work during the day can counter some negative effects of a sedentary work-from-home lifestyle.
Standing Promotes Weight Loss
Standing desks are also popular due to potential weight loss benefits. Being seated all day is a recipe for weight gain, as you hardly burn any calories. Standing engages your body and brings it out of inactivity. This means that simply choosing to stand for several hours a day will have some effect on your weight.
If you replace one afternoon of sitting with one afternoon of standing, research has found that you could burn 174 calories more. Combine that with 45 minutes of daily walking (during breaks for example), and you will have burned 450 calories. To make things more manageable, you could spread out your standing hours amongst your mornings and evenings, instead of standing throughout your afternoon.
Do this for one week, and you will see the benefits as small things add up. You are on the path of productivity and destroying the excuses for putting on weight while working from home.
Standing Helps Alleviate Body Aches
If you feel aches in the back, neck and shoulder after hours of sitting, the option of standing becomes much more appealing. Standing desks are popular simply because they allow you to stand as you work, affording pain relief from sitting. In a study known as the Take-a-Stand project, reducing sitting time by 66 minutes each day reduced employees’ upper back and neck pain by 54%.
Even if you use your standing desk for only an hour per day, the benefits may be worthwhile – as suggested by the improvements outlined in the above study.
Standing Helps With Productivity
Do standing desks really make you more productive? Standing after lunch reduces your blood sugar spikes compared to sitting. This means that standing desk users feel less drowsy, more energised, and more clear headed for work after lunch. Besides, a quick browse through online forums can give you a sense of what to expect when you switch to a standing desk. It is reasonable to expect productivity to decline in the first week as you adapt to the physical stress of standing. Afterwards, you get used to standing while you work and you can reap the benefits.
This suggests that a standing desk is not a quick hack; its use is not the most comfortable and requires adaptation. A standing desk may be popular, but make no mistake that it is a long-term investment.
Since many of the supposed benefits of standing desks carry scientific basis, should we gobble up the allures of standing desks? Turns out that there are a few things we should be wary of, in terms of how standing desks are marketed to us.
Popularity Enhanced by Mainstream Marketing
Mainstream marketing and captivating headlines contribute to the allure of standing desks. These headlines go viral and create more appeal, hype, and conversation around standing desks. However, they often blow the benefits of standing desks out of proportion. You may have heard that “sitting is the new smoking” and kills more people than HIV. “Get up, or lose hours of your life each day” is another title that catches the eye. These phrases mislead you to think that sitting is bad, or that sitting should be replaced by standing.
Make no mistake: we should not be standing all the time. Like prolonged sitting, excessive standing can lead to health issues such as heart failure due to an increased risk of varicose veins. Besides, standing does not equal exercise or doing enough daily activity.
Without a doubt, the best option for most people is to alternate between sitting and standing during the work day. Working from home offers you the flexibility to do that.
Another reason behind the popularity of standing desks is their adoption at workplaces. Facebook and Google, for example, reportedly invested in standing desks for their employees. While this trend has likely died down as many people are now working from home, it increased the popularity of standing desks for a while. Such developments created newsworthy headlines and topics regarding standing desks.
Lastly, if you take a look at your everyday e-commerce platform or type in “standing desks” on Google, you will see a variety of standing desks of different sizes, designs and functionality. These varieties demonstrate that standing desks are indeed popular and sold in alluring ways. Many models of standing desks are adjustable, allowing you to change the height of the desk and alternate between standing and sitting – they are known as sit-stand desks. There are desks which you manually crank to adjust the height, as well as motorized ones that allow you to adjust the height with one press of a memory button.
Standing Desks may be Slightly Overrated
Despite the many benefits of standing desks, they may not benefit every person equally. Some people may not find standing desks a worthwhile investment. Here are a few quick reasons why standing desks, after all, may be slightly overrated.
You may already be productive
If you are someone without focus and concentration problems, standing desks may not make a difference. Many people use standing desks to work an extra productive hour or two on their feet. If you are already a productive person, you may not need those extra hours. If you do not suffer from afternoon slumps and periods of lethargy, great. You may already be doing your best work sitting – there is no need to change that.
You may have the good habit of taking frequent breaks
Studies have found that taking frequent breaks from sitting during your workday is better than doing 1 hour of exercise and spending the remaining 11-13 hours sitting. Not to mention, we tend to underestimate how long we sit. Sitting time includes the time we sit during our meals, commute, social activities, and recreational activities on our phones or TV.
If you are someone who has the habit of moving about frequently during the day, you would suffer less health risk due to sitting. Perhaps, you do not even work that many hours on your computer. You may prefer to head for a walk rather than using a standing desk to push through work.
You may have other tools for productive working
Besides standing desks, there are a variety of portable desk tools that can help you work productively and comfortably. Laptop stands are one example. Adjustable laptop stands let you change the height of the stand, and thus switch between standing and sitting as you wish. Besides, alternatives like wall-mounted desks are also popular if you have limited space and cannot afford a bulky standing desk.
There are disadvantages of using a standing desk
Last but not least, using a standing desk can come with disadvantages if you are unaware of good ergonomics.
Here is what you should know:
- You may experience eye strain if the top of your monitor or laptop is not at your eye level, when placed atop your standing desk.
- The desk surface of your standing desk may be too high for your forearms and wrists to rest on, and typing may be difficult.
- Certain standing desks are bulky and take up space in a small room.
- Not standing straight or hunching over while working on a laptop can lead to aches and bad posture in the long run.
- Not everyone does their best work standing – some people concentrate better while seated.
Standing desks are not a productivity or health cure-all. Before jumping on the hype train, know that using a standing desk correctly takes practice. You may need time to adapt and master a few basics of ergonomics.
Conclusion
Standing desks are popular, but fortunately, they are popular for the right reasons. While some benefits of standing desks may be exaggerated, the truth remains that standing desks will be a good addition to most workspaces and home offices. Being able to alternate between sitting and standing lets you work more productively and healthily at the same time.