Trying to maintain a good posture is a challenge for most people, especially those who spend most of their workday behind a desk. When you’re focused on your work, it can be hard to remember to keep your back straight. There are a few products on the market to try to help with this, but they either don’t work as advertised or look and feel ridiculous to wear. There’s an easier solution to all of this: standing desks. In this blog post, we’ll review the ways standing desks can help improve your posture, as well as some tips on how to stay standing behind your desk for longer.
How They Improve Posture
We’ll start with the obvious—standing up allows your body to stay straight more naturally. Most of us only slouch over when we’re sitting. When you’re standing, your body is more likely to stand at attention instinctively. If you start to hunch over, it’s also easier to notice when you’re standing up.
Standing also helps build your muscles more than sitting. When you’re upright, you’re using more of your muscles than you would be lounging on a chair. Your back and leg muscles will have to put in more work to keep you standing, which in turn improves your posture.
Having a standing desk can even help your posture when you decide to sit for a while. Standing desks are made to be moved up and down, which makes it easier to change to the right height for an ideal sitting poster. If your computer is too low, forcing you to look down at it, and you’ve adjusted everything you can, being able to move your desk up a notch could be just the thing you needed.
How To Stand for Longer (But Not All Day)
While these benefits for your posture are great, standing all day for work is difficult and not recommended. First, we suggest an anti-fatigue mat. These give you more cushion for standing so your feet aren’t the first thing to give out on you. Anti-fatigue mats also help relax muscles and increase blood circulation.
Another tip is to sit when you feel tired. Take a quick sitting break, and then walk around—anything to keep your blood flowing and muscles loose is encouraged. A fun way to do this is to listen to some music and dance around a bit. Obviously, we don’t want it to distract you from your work but moving your hips or tapping your foot will help keep you moving—plus you're more likely to impress on the dance floor at the next wedding you attend.
Our Recommendation
Due to all of the ways standing desks can help improve your posture, we think they’re great. However, we realize many of them can be pricey or you have a perfectly good desk that you don’t want to part with yet. That’s why Readydesk makes desktop standing desk converters. They simply sit on top of your current desk and are much cheaper than buying a new desk. They’re the perfect compromise.