Pick of the Month: Direct Office Presents Top 5 Sit/Stand Desks For a Healthy Workspace

Keeping your team healthy doesn’t only bring happiness to your workplace but also efficiency. Therefore, a workstation designed to support your people’s body properly is crucial in modern office settings. Working for long hours without a comfortable workstation could actually develop the risk of undesired effects, like Repetitive Strain Injury and an overall increase in adverse effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Uncomfortable workstations also hamper work productivity.    

Luckily, with the right ergonomic devices and proper knowledge, you can easily create a workspace where you don’t have to select between your health and productivity.  

Desks

Your desk is the foundation for all of your work. It is where all of your work-essential devices are placed and it is where they live. There are several key factors to consider when looking to invest in a desk that works for your specific role and your body. First and foremost, however, it is important to pay attention to its height. 

You can choose between a traditional desk and a standing desk. However, when you consider the evolution of an office from a traditional workspace to a modern one, sit/stand desks are the best option. 

Unlike traditional desks, sit/stand desks (as the name itself suggests), offer you the option of standing while working. Continuously sitting at work can lead to various harmful effects on one’s body. Thus, to combat this, sit/stand desks offer you the option of adjusting the desk height and allow you to work in all positions.  Many users also claim this work method makes them feel more alert and productive on the job.  

Our Pick For Top 5 Best Sit/Stand Desks 

1. EASY Sit Stand Electric Desk (Starting price $1399) 

The EASY Sit Stand Desk is an ergonomic sit-stand desking system that is both functional and stylish. Designed for ergonomic workstations, EASY desks allow you to easily change your position from sitting to standing. This will keep your body moving, and also lead you to focus more on the work. You can select from our wide range of solutions to set up your ideal workstation. EASY Stand Desks offer electric height-adjustable options, so you can set up your workstation according to your preference based on comfort and ease. It is the desk that is best suited for your workspace for maximum productivity.

The EASY desks feature a 25mm desktop, with a sturdy European-manufactured steel frame. It has a single button controller and is capable of lifting 80kg weight. The desk has a dynamic height range of 605mm – 1260mm. EASY desks are supplied knockdown in kit form with a 5-year Warranty. Moreover, you can also choose from 6 colours for the top, with white or black colour bases.  

2. Milan Sit Stand Desk (Starting price $749)

The Milan Sit/Stand desk is a stylish desk that offers your workstation a modern and open frame design. The square columns and modern look of Milan is suitable for all office environments. Available with an adjustable height, Milan desks also come in different colours, like sandy oak pastels and dark lustrous elm tinctures. You can also choose from three different colour bases. Milan is also quick and easy to assemble and is a very affordable office desk. With a lead time of 5 working days, Milan desks are equipped with a single button controller, making it easy to adjust the height of the desk the way you want without too much hassle. It offers an 80kg lifting capacity, and the height range is available from 680mm to 1180mm. Milan has a 5-year warranty as well.  

3. Boost Electric Height Adjustable Desk (starting price $746) 

The Boost Height Adjustable Workstation is one of the best sit/stand desks available. With a frame size of 1100mm – 1800mm width and 620mm-1250mm height, the desk is dynamic and perfectly suited for a work environment where you would want to adjust your desk height to work standing. It offers 3 stage legs, and also has dual motors for a seamless height adjustment. Due to its built-in anti-collision mechanism, the Boost desk is well-suited for a work environment where there are heavy loads in motion. Available in white or black frames, the Boost offers a weight capacity of 125kg. It also has a 10-year warranty. 

4. Arise Deskalator Sit Stand Desk Top Riser (starting price $399)

The Arise Deskalator Sit Stand Desk Top Riser is a brand new product at Direct Office. It offers an adjustable range that sits on your existing desktop and allows you to change position throughout the day —from a sitting to a standing position— with ease. The scissor structure of the desk, with gas spring, features a smooth height adjustment system. There are 15 available options for height adjustment to choose from as well. Moreover, it also comes with a support groove on the surface to mount a smartphone or tablet in. With an easy height adjustment process, the desk is embedded with 2 activation paddles. 

Likewise, the Arise desk offers a large keyboard tray and a wide work surface. This is especially suited for a workstation that sees a lot of traffic. It offers a height range of 150mm to 500mm. The small weight capacity of the desk is 15kg, while the large weight capacity of the desk is 18kg. The gas spring of the desk also offers a smooth and even height adjustment every time you change its position. There are control levers on either side of the desk for easy activation, and the desk includes a cable tie. It comes with a 3-year warranty. 

5. Rapide Electric Height Adjustable Desk (starting price $748) 

The Rapid Electric workstation desk offers a sturdy, reliable height-adjustable solution. The desk is available with a proven ConSet motor and is equipped with a modesty panel for rigidity. ConSet is among the leading manufacturers of electric height adjustable office desk frames, and they have been prevalent in the Australian market since 2006. With a stiffening rail on 1500 and 180mm tops to prevent bowing, the Rapide sit/stand desk offers an easy solution for your dilemma of sitting or standing at your office to work. It has an up-and-down control and is backed by a 5-year warranty. Additionally, you can also choose from a range of desk sizes with cable entry ports in the desktop for wire management as well. 

The height range for the Rapide desk is 685 – 1205mm. The lifting capacity is about 100kg, and the speed of the desk is about 31mm per second. You can choose from three colour bases as well, to best suit your office aesthetic.  

Benefits of Using Sit/Stand Desks for your Office Workstations 

Due to the evolution of the office from a traditional workspace to a modern one, Sit/Standing office desks are all the rage at present. The benefits of standing desks are often talked about, as these desks allow you to work at your “desk job” while standing rather than sitting in a chair. Due to this, sales of standing desks have soared in recent years, and in many cases- their sales have far outpaced those of conventional desks as well. 

According to the researchers’ publishing in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, using a sit/standing desk for three hours burns an extra 24 calories. That is about the same number of calories in a carrot. Walking for just half an hour during your lunch break could burn an extra 100 calories each day, resulting in lowering the risk of harmful impacts of prolonged sitting while working. 

Likewise, advocates of standing desks also point to studies showing that after a meal, blood sugar levels return to normal faster on days a person spends more time standing than sitting. And standing, rather than sitting, can also reduce the risk of shoulder and back pain. 

Most recently, an Australian study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise put 23 overweight office workers through two five-day work weeks. In one of the weeks, they spent eight hours a day sitting at a desk working, and they alternated 30 minutes of sitting with 30 minutes of standing throughout each eight-hour day in the other week. The blood samples were then analysed to see if there was any difference in insulin, glucose, or triglyceride levels. A significant difference was found in glucose levels after consuming a test drink, which improved the sugar level by 11%.   

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

• What about using Treadmill Desks instead of Sit/Stand Desks? 

-Using a treadmill desk increases your chances of physically hurting yourself. Although a treadmill desk may help with the risk of obesity and heart disease, workers at these desks are also prone to increased typos. Plus, the desks might cause you to fall more often as well. 

• How do I know if a Standing Desk is right for me?

-Standing workstations may not be right for everyone, but they are often great for many people. As they give you the option to stand part of the time while you work, you can change positions and add more movement to your office working hours. Because of this, you can also change the stress on certain points of your body. Standing desks are adjustable and are not meant to be in a standing position all the time. They are meant to be used to alternate between sitting and standing while you work. If you have joint, circulation, balance or dizziness issues, along with certain other medical conditions, a standing desk may not be right for you. For this, check with your doctor before making the investment. Otherwise, if you want to break the chain of prolonged sitting at work, you can definitely go for sit/stand desks.

Conclusion

Always consider setting up an ergonomic office workstation. The right setup can keep you healthy and comfortable. Using this guide for a sit/stand desk, and picking the right products to compliment your work setup will help protect your and your team’s body from the negative effects of poor office ergonomics. It is always best to pay attention to the needs of individual body types for the right ergonomic solution, and it’s always the right time to encourage the transition—for a healthy body position at work. Direct Office offers a wide range of school and office furniture ready for immediate dispatch. Contact Us for any queries, and remember us for the best solutions regarding your furniture planning.