Eclectic Homes

Stand-Up Desks Rise to Health Challenges

Trends in work, leisure and technology have conspired to turn us all into sitters. We sit on the job. We sit at college. We sit while at home. And we sit in the car whilst conveying our expanding lifestyles from one sitting place to another.

All this sitting is devastating our wellness, creating illness and shortening lives. Sitting is the smoking.

There is a persistent myth about ergonomics, which is that sitting pain and injury stems from bad posture. You’ve seen the workplace safety diagrams. The screen should be at eye level. Forearms and wrists should be horizontal. Feet should be elevated. Back should be straight.

The reality is there’s no correct sitting position. Sitting injuries are largely “repetitive stress injuries” or due to the atrophy of muscles needed to support the skeleton. Always sitting at the so-called “correct” posture guarantees harm, since you’re always sitting in the same place, and therefore not moving.

That is why a standing desk is indeed great for you. Our bodies are designed to endure for lengthy amounts of time. And we move around while standing and change our weight. Reputation prevents both the repetitive stress and muscle atrophy that brought on by sitting.

Our own homes are a part of the problem. They designed around the assumption that we would like to sit all of the time. Comfy sofas. Padded bar stools. Lawn and lounge chairs in the backyard. Porch swings. Home office and desk chairs. Vanity stools at the bedroom. You would think a lot of ends supplied our homes.

Traditional interior decorating makes sitting nearly a necessity. If we would like to eat, watch TV, work or perform any number of other tasks in the home, sitting down is the only sensible means to do it.

Furniture is a part of the problem. But furniture can be the alternative.

As computers and the Internet become increasingly more important, individuals are spending more time online and less time doing other things. By harnessing this one thing and changing it into a standing activity, instead of a sitting, you can reverse the trend of sitting too much.

Focal Locus Chair and Desk – $1,450

Almost-Standing Desks

When standing for hours on end appears to be a pain in the … well, at the feet, then consider a compromise. Some desks are made to put more weight onto your feet — but not it all.

By way of instance, the Focal Locus seat and desk setup sets you at a position that is more standing than sitting with a forward-leaning seat. You still get lots of the advantages of a standing desk without having to stand all day.

You can also opt for a real standing desk, but include a Wilkhahn seat known as the Stitz. The seat provides support, but it’s deliberately unstable, forcing one to move and bend during your workday.

Simple Pleasure Reputation Desk – $2,800

Standing Desks: An American Tradition

Stand-up desks Are Getting to Be fashionable in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. But they are not a new idea. In reality, stand-up desks used to be much more common.

Earnest Hemingway favored a stand-up desk. And though Thomas Jefferson invented a swivel chair that was cool, he worked up. Even D.J. DePree, creator of Herman Miller, favored to endure while working.

As the stand-up-desk notion is both contemporary and traditional, real desks can be either contemporary or traditional. Some of the “contemporary” stand-up desks — most of them, actually — are horrible, pragmatic monstrosities you probably would not want in your home.

Many stand-up desk users have actually build their own — not through the craft of furniture making, but by kludging together some expedient solution, like stacking boards in addition to bookshelves — this sort of thing.

But you could also find amazing desks that honor the traditional American stand-up dining table. By way of instance, the easy Pleasure Reputation Desk by Sabbath-Day Woods Studio is both traditional and appealing, a beautiful addition to your home.

Nathan Rose Reputation Desk

Stand-Up Desk Tips

There has in recent years been a broad trend away from “desktop” PCs toward laptops and other mobile computers. But buying a laptop for a stand-up desk isn’t ideal, because the target is to incentivize standing. If family members can simply grab a laptop and plunk themselves down on the sofa in front of the TV, all fails.

Also, a laptop used without a standalone keyboard puts the screen very low, just over your palms, which can be embarrassing to use.

So it’s a fantastic idea to get a desktop PC for a stand-up desk.

All-in-one computers, like the Apple iMac lineup or the Dell XPS One 27, are very good choices for stand-up computers. The reason is that USB interfaces, DVD drives and other features are more accessible, as they are built into the monitor. Additionally, it solves the problem of where to put the CPU — that large box that everything plugs into on a regular PC — since there isn’t one!

It’s easy for PCs of any sort to attract ugly visual jumble to your home, especially wires and cables all over the area. It is possible to avoid some of the by choosing a PC with a wireless (Bluetooth) keyboard and mouse or trackpad.

Stand-up desks can be incredible space-saving devices compared with a regular desk and seat. Although the desks are taller, they could be smaller. And the elimination of this seat saves a great deal of space, also. Hemingway’s stand-up desk was usually only the top of a bookshelf.

Another choice is just a wall-mounted shelf, with the monitor mounted on the wall.

And should you decide on a real desk, you can do just fine with all the most minimal of surfaces. 1 beautiful alternative, the Nathan Rose Reputation Desk, is remarkably rustic, with rough cherry tree branches as legs. The surface of the desk is very little, but there is plenty of space for a keyboard and a screen.

Stilvoll Crescendo C2 Maximus

The Perfect Stand-Up Desk?

The Stilvoll Crescendo C2 Maximus is a wonderfully versatile amalgamated desk made in Germany of American walnut. The desk includes two slides and sides apart from the middle. On one side is a optional tilt-up desk. Another is flat.

When you slip them apart, there is a storage compartment. A gap between both sides, plus the storage compartment, combine to provide you a place to stash a power strip, external hard drives, cables and other accessories that are unsightly. It comes with cigar-box-size wood compartments for storing miscellaneous items over the computer stuff. All this storage is very high from the table, so it seems like the compartment isn’t even there.

This really is a superb table for use at the middle of an area, or by 2 people at once.

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