Are standing desks really good for you?

Allot of people ask us, are standing desks really better for you?

And the simple answer is yes. Studies show that standing at least every hour has many health benefits, in fact there is evidence to support this theory since the Apple I-watch has a built in health monitor that even reminds you every hour to stand up and walk around if it notices you have been sitting for too long. 

Apples website even states "The Stand alert will pop up on your watch at 10 minutes before the top of every hour, if Apple Watch senses you've been inactive for 50 minutes."

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that all Apple employees are getting a high quality standing desk. And no this isn't a cruel directive to force his employees to work longer and harder, Tim Cook has viewed this as a way to promote a very healthy work environment which in turn does lead to healthier and a more productive employee. To read the scientific articles that support Tim Cooks decision to be as progressive as he has been with respect to taking peoples heath seriously read the article here

Is a standing desk really good for you?

 

How many hours a day do you spend sitting? 

If you added up all the time you spend watching sitting in office and then in the car and when you go home watching TV etc, you may be quite alarmed?  A recent study found that on average adults spends approximately 60% of their day sitting. 

Is siting bad for you? 

If you want to live a long and healthy life, then it really does matter how long you spend sitting instead of standing. Many studies have found that the more time you spent sitting the greater the risk of causing illnesses that lead to earlier death.  One analysis determined that each hour of daily sitting time was associated with an increase in dying from all causes, in other words been less fit will cause illnesses to be worse.  

What about all that time you spend at the gym?  

A study was done by the Journal of Medicine and Science who looked at the association of sitting time and mortality.  They discovered that even among people exercising daily, it was still the amount of time spent sitting that increased their risk of cardiovascular mortality. Since then more and more studies are coming to the same conclusion that 30 minutes of daily physical activity is not enough to counteract the negative effects of sitting all day, we have to do more if we are to stay healthy and live longer

How can a standing desk help your health?

The Simplest way to live longer according to some studies is simple, stand more often!. But before running out to quit your desk job, consider this simple solution.  An electric Standing Desk for the office or even the home office that will allow you to decrease the amount of time you spend sitting, while still getting your work done.  Simply  press a button you can change your position from sitting to standing and potentially add years to your life.

 standing desks

What are the different types of Standing desks on the market?. 

When you start shopping for a standing desk lift, there are a few things you’ll need to consider when deciding what the ideal stand and sit desk lift is right for you.

There are basically 2 types of Standing desks:

  1. Manual control Standing desk
  2. Electronically motorized standing desks

Manual control Standing desk:

These 2 types of sit stand desks are by far the most common and the differences are in their title. One uses a manual handle where you wind it in one direction to make the desk raise up and then wind it in the other direction to make it lower.

The problem with this manual control is that it can take quite a while to go from the sitting position to the standing position and that actually results in people much less likely to go from one to the other, thereby becoming a total waste of time buying one to begin with 

manual standing desk

Electronically motorized standing desks:

An Electrically controlled standing desk works by using Linear Actuator technology in each leg of the desk frame that are connected to a main controller that hides out of sight under the desk frame and that controller takes care of ensuring that the linear actuator desk legs move up and down in sync regardless of whether the desk has more weight one one side of the desk or not.

A control pad that attaches to the desk top is also connected to the main controller, the control pad has a number of buttons to control the position of the standing desk, including some memory controlled set positions that works just like the memory seats in your car. The control pad also shows a digital display that shows the height of the Desk in inches. 

controller for standing desk

How do you choose the right Standing Desk? 

Assuming you have already decided to buy an Electronic Standing Desk,   one of the factors you need to consider is whether you choose a standing desk lift with single stage or dual stage legs.  What does that mean? What is the difference between single stage or these dual stage legs, and which is best for me? 

When looking for the right electric standing desk lift, you may want to consider some application specific factors to determine the right one for you. Below are a few factors you’ll want to consider when choosing the ideal standing desk for your office or home office. 

Standing Height Range available – The height range the mechanism can actually move through is important, the range will give you the minimum and maximum height the desk mechanism can achieve. You will want to make sure that your electric lift system is able to go low enough to allow you to sit and work ergonomically when been used in the sitting position, and also go high enough to allow you to stand and work when used in the standing desk position . If you are a taller person this will be particularly important. 

Weight Capacity of the mechanism – The weight capacity of the height adjustable standing desk systems will need to be strong enough to carry the weight of the desk top and all of its contents plus some spare capacity to be safe. This is particularly important for larger desks where multiple people with multiple equipment will work simultaneously, or if you have heavy equipment you like to keep on your desk. 

height adjustable standing desk
Extendable Base Widths – The base width are fairly standard for a desk but what if you have an odd size desk top!.  Our desk frames are adjustable and can accommodate narrow to very wide desks. How wide the base of your desk can be and is typically given as a range from the minimum to the maximum width. ideally you want a standing desk mechanisms that  has  an adjustable base to allow you to adjust the width. You will notice that all electrical standing desks use a single leg for each side of the desk frame rather than a leg on each corner, this is to reduce cost because each leg is basically a Linear Actuator which is an expensive item and not really necessary to have one on each corner of a regular size desk. 
3 Stage Legs
2 Stage vs 3 Stage Legs – All electronically controlled desk lifts use a telescopic type of Linear Actuator system. The leg basically extends out of the main body to increase the length of the Actuator which is what makes the Desk go up and down. But there are 2 types of Actuators that are commonly used for Standing desk lift systems, and they are either 2 stage or 3 stage.
The difference is that a 2 stage desk lift actuator does not have as much height adjustment, but will cost less because there are less parts in each leg. A 3-stage Leg system means that their legs have a 3 piece leg telescopic section inside the lift and these 3 segments allow the lift to go higher and lower as a result as 3 stage legs have more overlapping area between each segment compared to 2 stage legs. You should try to choose a standing desk with 3 stage legs as the key feature of any desk. 
3-Legged L-Shaped E-Desked
Number of Legs & Shape – The number of legs and the shape of the e-desk you require will depend based on your needs. Generally speaking, L-shaped desks will have more legs to support a greater area and weight, but a simple rectangular desk which is 90% of all desks just require a 2-Leg Standing desk mechanism. 

 

How do you Assemble a Standing Desk?

Installing a standing desk is very easy, here is a instructions video showing how the FIRGELLI E-Desk Standing desk mechanism actually works. 

How to install a Standing Desk lift - The easiest way to install a desk lift

This entertaining video below shows how easy it is to convert an existing regular desk into an electric standing desk without even removing anything off the top of the desk top and without even removing the existing legs first. This really is the lazy way to install a Standing desk mechanism. 

 

 To view the FIRGELLI E-Desks please visit our Standing Desk collections page here. 

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