In these times, whether you are working from home or back at the office, your office setup will always tell us who you are as a person and will also affect your productivity. The first thing you need in an office is a desk, right? But do you know that having a standing desk is better than just having a regular desk?
Having one has a lot more benefits and can increase your daily productivity. In this article, we will cover the advantages and cons of having a standing desk for your home and will also give a quick setup idea.
What Are the Benefits of Having a Standing Desk?
Standing desks come in many shapes and sizes and some features that you can’t find in a regular office desk. Aside from having a lot of benefits to having a standing desk for your home office, it also introduces a new and interesting, and more comfortable home office setup that will make your home office second to home. Below are some of the benefits that you’ll expect once you have fully transitioned to having a standing desk.
1. Physical Health
Do you know that just standing instead of sitting all day can help you lower your risk of weight gain and obesity? By just standing while being productive, you burn an additional 170 calories, and with math in the picture, it’ll be over 1000 calories burned in a week. Aside from that, a standing desk will also help with your posture and get rid of back and neck pain that you usually experience from sitting in front of your regular office desk for too long.
2. Lower Blood Sugar Levels
In a small study, standing for 180 minutes after lunch reduced the blood sugar spike by 43% compared to just sitting for the same amount of time. Another study was conducted, where 23 office workers alternated sitting and standing every 30 minutes throughout their work hours, reducing blood sugar spikes by 11.1% on average. Both studies are taken on the same matter. In conclusion, the smaller spike was due to standing rather than just sitting.
3. You Feel Energetic
With these benefits, your health and well-being will be better and you will enjoy greater energy levels. In The Applied Ergonomics Journal, where they published an analysis of 53 studies, they found that having a standing desk encouraged workers to be more productive. Backing that up, researchers in the UK have found that 66% of workers felt more productive and 87% felt more energized by having to spend their work hours in front of a standing desk. With these findings, they began a program to encourage office workers to get more active.
While there are still a lot of health benefits that are left unmentioned, the benefits above are just as beneficial as those unmentioned. But now, we will uncover the best quick setup ideas for your standing desk.
Setting Up Your Standing Desk at Home
Now that we have uncovered the benefits of a standing desk, you will now explore a setup idea for your standing desk for your home.
1. Right Position
The first is finding the most convenient and ergonomic position for you and your standing desk. You’ll need to consider factors that can affect your productivity, time, and accessibility. An example is positioning your laptop or monitor at a distance where if it’s too far, you will be forced to lean in. If it’s too close, your eyes will be strained from being too close to the screen. With that, we recommend positioning your monitor or laptop one arm’s length away from you. Plus, the top of your monitor should be at or slightly below eye level as we focus on the screen for a long period of time.
2. Declutter and Clean
Another thing to consider is the space in your standing desk, which can be overcrowded with extra things that aren’t helpful to your work. Get an overall look at your standing desk and picture what is functional and must-have things and tools for your work. Less is more when creating an ergonomic standing desk setup.
3. Personalization
Every person has their own way of doing their work, but having some encouragement while working will make you at ease while working. So make your own style and decor, or put accessories and pictures that will motivate and keep you inspired.
4. Office Desk Setup
While tackling the personalization above, you can also replicate the way you set up your desk at the office. Having familiarity with your setup way back when working in the office will help you be productive as you are already used to where the things are positioned on your desk. This will keep you from guessing where your things are. This way, you’ll have a smooth and comfortable transition from working at the office to home.
Final Takeaway
Finding your ideal setup for your standing desk at home can improve your work immensely. Plus, not just from the work perspective, the benefits of having a standing desk are numerous, such as mental, health, well-being, and physics. But even with the correct setup ideas, you may still experience aches or muscle fatigue that can be associated with the strengthening of the muscles from doing things that you aren’t used to. In the early weeks, you can alternate your posture between sitting and standing to put yourself at ease and achieve the productivity you are aiming for.
