I’m a standing desk evangelist. Ask anyone in my life who’s a desk worker and they’ll tell you that I’ve badgered them about switching. Whether it’s expensive or affordable, it doesn’t matter—just get one!
But I wasn’t always like this. When I first tried standing desks over a decade ago, I didn’t approve. My feet ached, my setup was suboptimal, I didn’t feel the benefits, and it was a hell of a lot more work than just putting my feet up while I tapped away at my PC.
But now? I’d never go back. Here are the top reasons why I went from standing desk skeptic to standing desk convert.
It helps my back pain and posture
This is the original and still best reason I have for using a standing desk. In the past, I wrote about my favorite desk accessories for back pain and posture issues. After years of poor posture, too much smartphone use, and a sedentary combination of desk work and PC gaming, I found myself with recurring pinched nerves and distracting back pain.
Switching to a standing desk was the first step to reversing that dangerous debilitating trend, and though it still isn’t perfect today, it’s much better than it was. I attribute that to my standing desk.
Today, I spend most of my days standing, not sitting. I stand to work, I stand to game, and though I have a few seated sessions throughout the day to rest, it’s only for a short while—and then I’m back up again. Standing keeps me more upright. Plus, I can better control my desk environment so that my monitor is at the right height and my wrists are held at a neutral angle while typing.
It keeps me moving, too. I don’t just sit still, slowly caving forward as I grow tired. I’m able to dance, to pace, to rock from foot to foot, or even do some flamingo legging. All of this helps prevent me from getting stuck in one bad position that slowly cements into my default.
Back pain will always be something I have to contend with due to the nature of my work and choice of hobbies, but with a standing desk I have a much better chance of staving off the worst of it.
It encourages me to move around more
With a standing desk, I’m not just passively burning more calories than I would if I were sitting down—I’m free to move around as much as I want, whenever I want, not confined to a chair. I take full advantage of that.
I’m a compulsive desk fidgeter, so when I’m standing I can more readily tap my feet, bounce from foot to foot, dance if the right tunes are playing, balance at funny angles on my foot rocker, and do full-blown exercises. When I’m proof reading, I’ll often do a small weighted exercise with some tiny dumbbells, or lower the standing desk so the monitor stays in my eyeline as I do some squats or lunges.
Everything I’ve read suggests that regular movement is one of the best ways to thwart the circulation issues that can arise from sedentary office jobs, so I’m going to keep standing and keep moving as best as I can. Far more than I could do if seated all day.
It keeps my PC at a distance
When I built my first PC at 15, I wanted the biggest, baddest, fastest, and gaudiest system possible. I fitted a Thermaltake Armor with an early AMD Athlon 64+ CPU, a DFI LanParty motherboard, and the best GPU I could afford: an Nvidia GTX 6600. I also fitted it with a massive cooler with heaps of fans and some gaudy blue LEDs. I had that monster on my desk right by my face for years and somehow never noticed how loud it was.
Today, that seems like the absolute worst idea possible. Thank goodness for aging gracefully. My ideas of what constitutes a great PC have, too. While I still have powerful hardware in my main office/gaming machine, I’m also more cognizant of its noise levels. I don’t want to hear from it unless there’s a problem. The PC is in a swanky Fractal Design North case, yet I don’t even really want to look at it. Just let me work and game and don’t cause any problems, thank you very much.
Jon Martindale / Foundry
And that’s something else the standing desk helps with. Short of putting my PC in another room, it’s about as far from me as I can manage in my humble home office. It’s under the desk, tucked in a corner, and I don’t see it (or even remember it exists) while I’m standing.
This extra distance helps reduce PC noise levels. I’m a big fan of quiet and silent PCs, so I have all the fans and pump turned low… and when idling or writing, it’s basically inaudible. *Chef’s kiss*
It let me game when I had a baby
This win for standing desks is no longer relevant for me, but it’s a win I’ll always celebrate because it let me have some me time while navigating dadhood for the second time with a troubled sleeper.
I won’t bore you with the details, but my daughter didn’t sleep well until she was 4 years old. Between the ages of 6 months to 18 months, I rocked her to sleep in the carrier every night so my poor wife could get a break from breastfeeding. Fortunately, it ended up letting me get some time for me, and even for us.
Jon Martindale / Foundry
Already a practiced standing gamer, it meant I could enjoy my new love at the time (Valheim, not my daughter) for hours while she happily slept against me. My wife even played on the laptop in the other room, so while we were passing ships in the wind otherwise, we were able to venture around a fantasy world and build the Viking homestead of our dreams, all while escaping the torment of a screaming toddler.
I genuinely credit this niche benefit with saving my sanity and helping my marriage to no end, and it’s something for which I’ll always be grateful to my faithful standing desk.
It makes celebrating wins more fun
What do you do when you win an online match or defeat that epic boss? Punch the air? Shout “Let’s go!”? Do a little victory dance? I know I do! And that’s so much more fun when you’re standing up. It’s hard to celebrate when you’re plopped in a chair. But standing? Have at it!
I even enjoy more pre-emptive celebrations while standing. When playing board games via Tabletop Simulator, if I manage a particularly impressive turn of dice rolls and strategic decisions, or realize my friend is about to fall into a trap I’ve carefully planned, there’s nothing quite like some fist pumping to double down on my enjoyment of the win.
It makes voice and video calls better
I’m not a fan of video calls. (It’s an eye contact thing.) But if we’re going to do it, I’d rather be standing. It helps keep the air moving around me so my profuse social-sweating isn’t so obvious. And since I’m standing, I feel like my oracy skills are improved. I can speak that much more clearly, with less of my usual tendency to mumble or stutter.
I’d have to ask my editors whether they notice a difference, but I definitely feel more confident standing. It keeps my hands off-camera, too, so I can more readily fiddle with a fidget toy out of sight.
I finally get the standing desk hype
Standing is just a way of life for me at this point. Until I come up against some potentially severe negative health effects of standing desks—maybe circulatory issues, blood clots, varicose veins, etc.—I’m going to keep at it. It feels better, it mitigates my worst habits, and it helps me focus better. It even makes my small office feel a bit bigger, too.
Sure, the upfront cost is a little high, so I don’t want to handwave the privilege on this one. But I started out with cardboard boxes under my keyboard, mouse, and monitor to ape the more expensive options. It’s doable on a budget, and I recommend it for anyone who spends more than a few hours sitting at a desk every day.
Come dance like an idiot with me while we work. I think you’ll like it.
Further reading: The best remote work accessories for your home office