Poll: Standing Desk or Exercise Ball Chair | Hacker News Reader

Poll: Standing Desk or Exercise Ball Chair

8 pointssvrocks10 comments

After reading this article http://health.yahoo.net/experts/menshealth/most-dangerous-thing-youll-do-all-day I am determined to change my workplace setup. It looks like the 2 most popular options on HN are standing desk or exercise ball chair. What would you recommend and why?

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i've been using my standing desk setup for 2 weeks. it's amazing. all of the energy that used to go into shaking legs and fidgeting and not focussing is now gone. i'm a little more tired at the end of the day (probably a good thing), and my knees, ankles and feet are sore at the end of the day as well. i'm not positive that's going to go away, but it makes sense that it would, and everything i've read confirms that.

my back doesn't hurt from sitting anymore and my arms and wrists are in much better ergonomic positions as well (i used to do some ergo design as a manufacturing engineer).

i think there are tremendous psychological and physiological benefits. i'm more focussed, i'm more satisfied, and i feel like i'm getting more done (obviously all subjective). i haven't found my attention drifting at all in the last few weeks, and have not once thought to myself, "damnit, just get back to work." if i get distracted, or need to think about something, i just walk around a little. i'm not stuck in a chair-jail. i also keep a soccer ball nearby, and find i'm often dancing a little when music is on. wonderful.

just got an ergo mat to go under my feet. should make a big difference as well. i'm still not done setting it up. i've been stacking boxes at different heights to test locations for the keyboard and mouse. i'm close.

once you take your desk apart and setup a standing desk, you are forced to use it. this is much different than an exercise ball which you can easily ditch for your chair-jail.

followup thoughts: the novelty of something new in the workplace (like a new desk, new chair, new location, or new computer) always wears off, diminishing some of the positive effects it's had. standing and moving around for 8-12 hours a day might introduce new problems or ailments, but there's no way those problems will be worse than sitting, curled up in a chair-jail for 8-12 hours a day.

here's my setup:

anti-fatigue mat http://www.amazon.com/Sublime-Imprint-Anti-Fatigue-Comfort-N...

monitor wall mounts http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DKMO0A

adaptor to run extra externals from my macbook pro http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GHBW4S

I have a sit-stand. I found that over about a month I went from 1/2 to 95% standing. I still sit occasionally (if I overdid it at the gym say), but if I had to have a fixed station, it would definitely be a standing one.

Exercise ball is cheap, but you probably won't use it very long (if you're anything like me).

Standing desk is more expensive but probably more effective.

seriously, people will stand at their desks all day?

I also walk around, or play table tennis.

I have two computers at work. One is a standing desk, and the other is a normal desk. I block reddit and hn on my normal desk.

I have two desks at work. I converted the lab bench to standing desk because it is adjustable. I dock my laptop at both.

At first I sat in the morning and stood in the afternoon. This is great to avoid feeling sleepy after a big lunch.

After a few months I feel I am standing up straighter, can tolerate standing all day and often prefer it. I feel it has strengthened my posture.

Sometimes however I like to switch to sitting - sometimes I associate sitting with a certain kind of focus.

I have a standing desk, and like it. Be sure to try it for a few days, and also try it barefooted.

Exercise balls put your back into a C position and put pressure on your sacrum, neither of which are natural. Standing desks are hard to use for the first weeks, and then completely natural thereafter. Humans and their ancestors have been standing and walking for millions of years.

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