

Ask HN: Standing desks? - keiferski

I&#x27;m setting up a home office and considering a standing desk over a traditional sit-down one. The benefits seem obvious, but at the same time it seems difficult to get long-term work done if you&#x27;re standing.<p>What&#x27;s your experience with a standing desk?
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japanesejay
I've been using one for almost a year now. I was going to splurge on a fancy
steelcase one but opted for a GeekDesk (~$1000). My setup includes 2x 27"
monitors with an ErgoTron arm, two macbooks and a desktop stashed on the side.

I do a lot of Dev work as well as design. When I'm coding, standing isnt too
much of an issue. Having the option of moving around helps me when I'm stuck
debugging issues. When designing though, especially with a wacom tablet, I
notice that I tend to slouch or lean too much on the desk, so I sit.

Having a motor makes it very convenient for lazy people like me, especially if
it has presets. Setting up the height to make it ergonomically correct is key.

I have a friend that has a DIY setup who uses monitors which adds to the
weight and makes adjusting the height on demand very inconvenient–leading to
the fact that he doesnt use it to stand anymore. If you go the DIY route, make
sure its setup correctly. I've seen some creative setups before including
putting a height adjustable chair on their desk. I was too short for that to
work for me.

In regards to long-term work, that all depends on you. Like most people on HN,
my days run 8~12 hours too. When I first got my desk, I split my day up until
I got used to it. One of the things that helped was the use of a GelPro mat
(check the clearance section) which cushions your feet.

There are days I've stood all day and felt fine. When I'm sitting I tend to
get myself into "Stuck to the chair" mode and even if all it takes is to stand
up to walk around to get your blood flowing, I dont or I dont even realize
I've been glued to the chair for hours on end.

Hope that helps.

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YoAdrian
I've been using a standing desk for 9 months now. I'm a software architect and
my days run 8-12 hours, depending on what fires I'm putting out. I found an
Ikea Jerker desk on Craigslist for $75, then picked up an industrial anti-
fatigue mat at Home Depot for $20. It only took me about 2 weeks to realize
that I can't go back to sitting all day.

You're not exercising like a treadmill desk, but you will often find yourself
moving about as you work. Heck, some days the music kicks in and you've just
got to move with the beat while you're building a new feature for your app.

Side effect: after about three months, I was also able to give up soda
completely and have almost completely given up caffeine.

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sejje
Your comment about moving is spot-on for me: I gave a standing desk a trial
for a couple of days, but I found that I would walk away from my computer ~10
times per hour. I had to sit back down just to get something done.

I don't have willpower issues, I just would do it without thinking.

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robflynn
One of my co-workers wanted a standing desk but didn't want to have to stand
all of the time. We ended up throwing together a custom solution. Here's a
video of it in action. The video starts with the desk in the sitting position.

[http://youtu.be/q2PVtl-_2f4](http://youtu.be/q2PVtl-_2f4)

(apologies for the cell phone quality)

We took apart a normal desk and combined it with an old plasma TV lift
(designed for trade shows back when TVs weighed a lot), a linear actuator,
switch, and some random nuts and bolts. It worked out pretty well. It's a
little noisy, but you only end up moving it once or twice a day, so that's
fine.

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mildavw
I've been standing all day for three years. It takes a few months to get your
legs used to it. Our office has 20 of these:

[http://www.ergodepot.com/Ergo_Depot_adjustable_desk_AD127HD_...](http://www.ergodepot.com/Ergo_Depot_adjustable_desk_AD127HD_p/ad127hd.htm)

There are a few exercise balls and aerons around that people occasionally use.
I have a footstool that I rest one leg on as I lean forward on the desk. The
other footstool is for pairing with a developer who is much shorter:

[http://pimen.to/office-desk.JPG](http://pimen.to/office-desk.JPG)

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timmm
Sooo expensive, I made mine for like $30...

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mildavw
My first one was $12 piece of melamine sitting on a cheap desk and 4 monitor
boxes. And yeah, it wasn't much different than the version I have now. I leave
mine up, but others, who move them up and down, do appreciate the electric
motors.

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wojt_eu
I'm using motorised desk (similar to GeekDesk) for over three years now. On
8-hours working days I'm doing 3-6 standing sessions, each one 25 minutes long
("Pomodoro"). If I stand more than that feel fatigue which is distracting.

For a while I had only a fixed standing desk and I took breaks by just taking
the laptop on my lap. Motorised desk is much better and promotes changing your
stature more frequently.

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trafficlight
In my coworking space, I turned the old hydraulic lift into a 4-sided standing
height desk. The surface itself is made of two different sizes of cheap Ikea
table tops.

[https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-
ash3/579181_296764684...](https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-
ash3/579181_2967646845592_239634524_n.jpg)

~~~
borplk
cool ... kinda sucks if the person next to you wants to sit though eh?

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jlengrand
I created a cheap Ikea standing desk at home. But I have big problems standing
all day. After a few hours, the discomfort in my legs is getting too high and
I could not work efficiently any more.

So I bought a bar chair, in order to be able to sit on my standing desk. I try
to use it as few as possible, and it works quite well for me :)

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dhandel
I have a treadmill desk at work but chose this for my home...
[http://www.focaluprightfurniture.com/](http://www.focaluprightfurniture.com/)

I like it but only need use it a few hours per day. I don't think I'd stand
all day long with any desk.

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gee_totes
Have you thought about making an "MVP" standing desk out of old soda
cans/books and a board?

~~~
keiferski
Definitely a good idea, although I don't drink soda and I have a kindle! :D

Maybe some milk carton boxes will do the trick.

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caw
I have a sit/stand desk in my cube. I've been gradually working up how much I
stand all day, but I still sit for a large portion of the day.

You need to stand correctly. If you lock out your knees and other things, it
won't necessarily be better than sitting.

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GiselleDarlene
I tried it and couldn't do it. It's really hard to stand in one place for
hours. Walking around is a different story. People in the office do it and we
use a cheap hack. Cinder blocks. You can always give it a try and take it down
if you don't like it.

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FurrBall
I would not set up a standing desk. The idea of exercising while you work is
nice, but it would totally destroy my mental zone.

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tylermac1
Standing doesn't mean exercising. It's just generally better for your back in
the long run.

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soneca
I never quite understood these obvious benefits. Could someone list them to
me?

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keiferski
[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/business/stand-up-desks-
ga...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/business/stand-up-desks-gaining-
favor-in-the-workplace.html?_r=0)

In sum: sitting all day is bad for you.

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soneca
thanks!

