Ikea Standing Desk | Hacker News Reader

Ikea Standing Desk

theverge.com

20 pointsbradmenezes16 comments

The trick to using a standing desk for long periods is having a padded wood platform to stand on. Standing on concrete or carpet on top of concrete will kill your legs in less than an hour. I have a slightly raised plywood platform with padding on top. I can stand on it all day with no problem.

Does anyone here use a standing desk? He have one at our office, but after 30 minutes I get too lazy and want to sit down.

Beside my desk I have two cardboard boxes and a loose 1/2 width desk table table-top. Maybe 4 times a week I move everything on the edge of my desk and set up the two boxes and the loose desktop to make a standing desk that just happens to be the perfect height.

I've only got a laptop, a single monitor, lamp, wired keyboard, and wireless mouse, so moving all that from the low desk to top desk - and back - only takes about one or two minutes. When I do stand, I'll stay like that for usually about three to four hours.

I set up a permanent standing desk at home for about a month (cinder blocks under my desk table legs) and I really liked how easy it was to just walk up to desk and dive into work... or to step back from my desk if I got distracted or just needed to take a couple minutes because I was stuck on something. Not having to "get settled" at my desk, and not having to pull my up out of my chair made a surprisingly big difference to the experience of working.

While the physical benefits of not siting so much are very good, I was most surprised by that feeling described in the paragraph above. The way it changed my relationship to my desk and what happens there was the most remarkable thing about using a standing desk. I very much look forward to getting an electric adjustable standing desk at work.

Yes, that is the point of a motorized sit stand desk. You stand when you feel like it and adjust it down when you want to sit, and so on.

My desk at work gives me the option to stand or sit.

Most of the time, it winds up being 60/40 stand/sit.

Feels pretty nice!

The key I think is have a desk that can change (not fixed). I have the GeekDesk (http://www.geekdesk.com) and wouldn't go back to a normal fixed desk. Yes, I don't stand for long periods of time either. But I really enjoy the fact that I can change my desk height throughout the day. For example, I have a large whiteboard right beside my desk at standing height. So I flip the desk to standing position when I want to brainstorm and have access to my computer.

When I started using a standing desk it definitely involved an adjustment period. When starting out, something that helped me was to stand for thirty minutes then sit for one hour, alternating. Also, I've found that it's best to start the day standing or else I end up sitting most of the day. :) My back and neck (and even my hands) feel a lot better when I alternate between standing and sitting, as opposed to sitting all day. From what I understand, standing all day is also bad, but moving up to one hour of standing per sitting has worked pretty good for me.

I guess I don't get the need of the standing desk. Can't you just take regular mini breaks and go walk around a bit? It doesn't even need to be outside or for a long length of time. It would be healthier and cheaper than a standing desk.

The research is pretty clear. Any amount of time sent standing is better than that amount of time sitting. Your muscles stay in use, your heart works more efficiently, and you burn more calories, than sitting. So no, sitting + walking breaks is not healthier than always standing.

Cost shouldn't be a factor if you really care about treating your body better. It's super easy to ad-hoc your own standing desk for free, or spend some money to get something built for standing. Remember, if you're doing it for 8+hours a day, that's 1/4 of your life. It's worth the money you spend.

Interesting. I sit, but I get up a lot and run around with the dog, etc. I wonder if standing really would make a difference in my case. I could imagine if you were working in an office all day, it might be a problem. Though I wonder if standing too much has its own troubles too. Maybe thats why the desks that easily go up/down would be nicer - that way never too much of one thing - standing or sitting.

This study[0] shows that it takes about 4 hours of complete inactivity to see a large decrease in LPL (lipoprotein lipase) in the legs. It then takes about 4 hours of low intensity activity to replenish previous levels.

Of course, then the question becomes how much low intensity activity do you need during the day to offset sitting. If you avoid sitting for 4 hours straight, do you avoid most of the bad parts? Is standing alone enough low intensity activity to keep your LPL going or do you need a treadmill desk? Could you go 3 hours sitting, 1 hour walking, repeatedly and still have good LPL levels?

The research is only clear on one thing: don't sit for 4 hours straight. It'll take 4 hours of walking around for your LPL levels to recover.

[0]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12815182

I like to stand while working, not alternate between standing and working. Pacing helps me think, and not having to sit down to use the computer each time I want to try something while working my way through a different problem is wonderful. Finally sitting down after finishing something that's taken long enough for my legs to get tired is pretty satisfying too. With a motorized desk I find I usually spend a bit under half the day standing.

For me, any long term health benefits from a standing desk is purely a nice bonus.

Another benefit is standing desks are a boon for in person collaboration. For whatever reason, my co-workers prefer to come over and see new features on my screen where multiple people can stand without feeling like they're looming over me.

I was a bit surprised to see the laptop actually work.

That's a lot of money for IKEA.

On the other hand, that's not a lot of money for a standing desk.

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