By nature, the human body, as a whole, is designed to be in motion. Movement is imperative for spinal health by improving circulation and reducing muscle fatigue. The main problem with most work stations nowadays is that they require prolonged periods of sitting. Sitting at your desk for eight hours can be hazardous to your health. It increases the pressure on your disks, and it’s bad for the circulation in your legs and your cardiovascular system. An occasional change of position and posture is essential for a healthy body and a lively mind.
Height adjustable desks are becoming increasingly popular in the office and for a good reason. When you are using a sit-stand desk, you are free to choose and change your position, from sitting to standing and back. The ease of use, versatility and convenience of these sit-stand solutions make employees more concentrated and motivated. After you find out all the benefits of this ergonomic furniture, you might wonder how you ever worked without one.
How Do Height Adjustable Desks Work?
The idea of height-adjustable desks or sit-stand desks is to provide the user with the opportunity to switch between a seated and standing position while working. Modern adjustable desks can transform from a sitting desk to standing desk with just one click on the button. There’re two types of adjustable desks: electric and manual. Manual desks usually provide a crank that can be turned to alter the height of the desk. Most desks provide various locations in which the crank can be attached to provide the lifting/lowering mechanism.
Electric desks are the future of a comfortable working environment. They feature a control panel with buttons that can be used to adjust the height of your desk at any time. Some models also come with a preset memory option, which makes changing positions a breeze. With the touch of a button, your adjustable sitting desk to standing desk will raise or lower to your pre-specified position. You can switch between consistent heights that you find most comfortable, which can benefit your health and wellbeing in so many ways.
Benefits of Height Adjustable Desks
Prevents Weight Gain
Weight gain is one of the main problems caused by sitting for long periods. When sitting, you burn very little calories when compared to standing. Although exercising is the best way to lose weight, choosing to stand instead of sitting all day can be very beneficial. When compared to an afternoon of sedentary work, an equal amount of time spent standing has been shown to burn over 170 additional calories. With the help of a sit-stand office desk, you can spend more time standing if you want to burn more calories.
Promotes Healthy Muscles & Spine
Regular change of positions is also known to promote healthy muscles. When you’re sitting, the activity in your legs is virtually zero. Over prolonged periods, this can result in muscle breakdown and negative consequences for the musculoskeletal system. Changing position and standing instead of sitting all the time allows the spine and muscles to move and thus stay supple. Also, the back and neck muscles relax significantly when you regularly switch between a sitting and standing position. Back pain connected with sitting can be significantly improved when using sit-stand desks.
Reduces the Risk of Heart Disease
According to multiple studies, prolonged sitting harms the cardiovascular system. It’s essential to do some physical activity in the workplace. The so-called HDL level (high-density lipoproteins) decreases when you’re sitting, resulting in an increased risk of a heart attack. If you stand up while working- you are doing your health service. Height-adjustable desks promote a healthy HDL level through sufficient movement during the day and can thereby positively influence your health.
Increases Mental Activity
Height adjustable desks appear to have a positive influence on our overall well being. According to experts, when standing up, human brain activity increases by up to 20 %, resulting in significantly faster, higher-quality decision-making processes, even at the end of a long, tiring working day. Changing positions from sitting to standing can help employees spark up their creativity, motivation, productivity and be more open-minded and flexible.
How to Choose Your Height Adjustable Standing Desk
When choosing a sit-stand desk, you need to inspect your desk environment to see what fits in the allotted space. You need to make sure that the desk you choose adjusts as low as your sitting elbow height and as high as your standing elbow height. If the height of the desk with the worktop on ranges from 69cm to 120 mm, you might meet this criterion. Height adjustable desks are available in a wide range of sizes, differing in height and width, so choosing the perfect one for your office should be easy. Make sure you have extra space to move your chair around because you don’t want your chair in the space that you are standing. Some desks come with an extendable frame, that can fit a worktop from width 120 cm to 210 cm.
While you want your adjustable sitting desk to standing desk to be practical, you also want a modern, stylish and open frame design. You can opt for a model with square columns, and a modern look that makes it suitable for all office and meeting room environments. You can choose a design to match the rest of your office decor. Standard frame colours include white, silver and black, while the worktop can be either white or beech. They also come with different lifting capacity, from 80 kg to 130 kg and more, so you can safely organise all your work equipment. If the standard rectangular shape is not working for you, you can always choose an L-shaped sit-stand desk for an even easier organisation.
Australian Youth Lifestyle 
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