If you are creating a backyard workspace or home office, curating the right furniture will go a long way to boosting your productivity, especially if you are working a full-time job.
There’s no escaping the desk as the centerpiece of your hive of activity, and getting it right makes all the difference to working smart remotely.
Have You Considered A Standing Desk?
Standing desks are a great alternative to the traditional table style, and with ever more digitally connected means of working are proving a popular choice for both commercial and home office spaces.
In this short article, we’ll run through 9 key benefits of getting up and getting on by using a standing desk as your workstation.
What Is A Standing Desk?
If you still think of a desk as that cluttered location where you’re going to be sitting down for hours on end, we have news for you!
Standing desks are desks that provide their flat table-style work surface at standing height. This usually works out at a desk height of around 44 inches for a person of 5 foot 10 inches (1.78m) height and will result in them being able to rest their elbows comfortably on the surface.
This means that you use your computing or complete written and manual tasks while standing up or on the move. The desk surface may be adjustable, with variations in angle and height to suit the user.
The Illustrious History Of The Standing Desk
A standing bureau or desk is not a new concept.
For hundreds of years, the great and good as well as workers of all kinds have used a standing desk or lectern. Leaders such as Winston Churchill and writers like Charles Dickens were at their most productive at standing desks, while draughtsmen, architects, and engineers have designed some of the great inventions and buildings of our age while on their feet.
The sit-stand desk is likely to have evolved from the exquisite French table à la tronchin, once the preserve of royalty from which laws and decrees would have been drafted with flair.
Why You Need To Make A Standing Desk A Centerpiece In Your Backyard Workspace
The standing desk is no longer the exclusive preserve of statesmen, technicians and draughtsmen.
Now you can enjoy the benefits of a height-adjustable desk at home. If you’re not sure that you can completely walk away from your deeply upholstered executive office chair, let us motivate you with our take on 9 key benefits of using a standing desk.
- Working while standing keeps you moving
We have finally woken up to the fact that the sedentary lifestyle helps no one.
UK research from the British Heart Foundation found that Brits spend up to 75% of their waking hours sat down. For many office workers across the world at least 5 hours of the daily 9-5 will be sat at the desk and it is adding up to long-term health problems like obesity and diabetes.
Being on your feet while you work may help you sidestep some of the health risks associated with prolonged sitting and contribute to keeping you active. If you are already standing you will be more likely to move around your workspace while you air your thoughts.
- A standing desk may improve your posture.
You may have experienced the musculoskeletal cramps and aches that come with working at your computer for hours on end. Often the seating and desk arrangement is not ergonomically optimized which can lead to entrenched postural problems and even repetitive strain.
Standing desks, especially those with adjustable height offer a great advantage in maintaining optimal positioning for desk work which includes:
- Eyes level with the top of your computer screen.
- Relaxed low and level shoulders.
- Forearms parallel with the floor.
- Feet flat on the ground.
- Standing could help increase your productivity.
You know that there must be some advantage to be gained when you are big employers like Apple joining the fashion for standing workspaces.
CEO Tim Cook is waging war on sitting down and providing all employees with standing desks. These desks have definitely been embraced by the creative and tech sectors who have also spearheaded innovative co-working and hot-desking.
- Concentration and mood boost
If science is anything to go by getting a height-adjustable workstation will improve your psychological health. The 2018 Stand More At Work (SMArT Work) study by Leicester University, published in the BMJ looked at the psychological outcomes of boosting activity office-based healthcare workers.
The intervention group received height-adjustable workstations and a schedule of periods of standing to achieve over a period of four months. Researchers found that sitting time was successfully reduced with long term positive improvements in work-related wellbeing.
- Standing up to work could help you stave off obesity.
With the medical establishment currently comparing sitting to smoking, it’s about time we all took our lifestyles and health more seriously. Little and lasting changes make all the difference so it’s no surprise that the small but established change of standing at your desk will help you burn a few extra calories every day.
Standing is not a major fat burner but it will increase the likelihood you will move more in your day, and potentially aids weight loss and development of conditions like diabetes. Some standing desks are even equipped with a treadmill to accelerate weight loss!
Does working up a sweat on the treadmill while you tap on your keys sound like a good idea to you? Find out more in our quick-read article “Do treadmill desks really work?”
Check out this treadmill desk here on Amazon.
- Get the workspace that works for you
Standing desks are usually height adjustable which means you can completely customize the set up of your desk so it works for you. Work standing versus sitting certainly has some decent health benefits but some people do report aches after a hard day’s work standing upright.
Sit-stand desks are a great option for enjoying the best of both worlds. If you feel that you may want to take a seat at intervals, the desk can be readily lowered to a seating height.
Many of these special desks are equipped with a gas spring levitation system to make adjustments easy and convenient. A regular desk can also be adapted for standing with a spring-loaded worktop that can raise your computer to standing height.
- Enjoy a less cluttered workspace
If you are keen on a minimalist or utilitarian approach to your backyard workspace design, a standing desk could be a great purchase and provide very good efficiency of space. If you tele-commute or have a lot of conference calls being on your feet at a standing height may be advantageous for presentations or zoom calls with your team.
A raised, workstation can keep all your tech and computing gear organized and optimally positioned for use. A raised desk also provides room for storage beneath, including the installation of printers, routers, or other home office equipment.
- Raised and angled desks are perfect if you work in design or creative professions.
Artists and designers need plenty of light and a working surface that allows them to work with precision and accuracy.
Many standing tables for artists and designers draw from the drafting tables of old with an expansive and angled surface that can be used much like an easel. When partnered with a bar stool or standing up a standing desk is a creative studio must and can be partnered with surfaces or storage for your tech interface.
- A standing desk looks great
In a home office we think your space should look good and reflect your personal style. Connoisseurs of design are tuning into standing desks as a great design piece. You can source some beautiful pieces with great engineering and high quality fine grained wood desktops that will really enhance the aesthetic of a bright and airy garden office. All a stylish standing desk needs is your sleek folio, stationary, and pot plant to keep you company.
Rounding up
We hope we have shared with you some great advantages of using a standing desk in your backyard workspace. If you like a sense of dynamism in your workday we are sure you will find a standing desk a great motivator.
Standing desks have great functionality and come in a range of styles, meaning that everyone should be able to pinpoint a desk that works! To make a successful transition, you will need to stand for increasing periods at a time, with seated breaks to build up your stamina for your new way of working.