Socials
Prefer video? Watch here 👇
Okay, I did it!
I joined the productivity psychos and got myself a sit-stand or adjustable desk, and after six months, I think I have enough experience to help you decide whether or not you need one.
Before we move on, I need to mention that this article is not sponsored. In fact, I don’t even know what brand made the one I’m using right now. So this is just my honest take on sit-stand desks in general.
-
Do they improve productivity?
-
Are there any noticeable health benefits
-
Does it matter if you get a cheap or expensive one?
-
What to expect at different price ranges
-
Mistakes I made that you can avoid
-
Is it worth it
1. DO SIT-STAND DESKS IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY?
What drove me to join the adjustable desk gang is that, early last year (2024), I started experiencing sharp pains right in the middle of my back. It was obvious that years of sitting, as I work from home, were beginning to catch up with me.
For over seven years of working from home, I have always had a basic fixed desk, and I won’t lie, there were times when I wanted to continue working, but my back would be killing me, and I would just wish I had an adjustable desk to continue working while standing.
That said, I do think the answer is yes, adjustable desks do improve productivity, because, if you work for say 45minutes before you take a break, and then 20minutes in you start to feel a back pain, you’re not necessarily tired but you could be forced to take a break, but if you had an adjustable desk, you could simply switch to a standing position, and even get stretches and movement while still working.
So I’d say using an adjustable desk has not only improved my productivity, but has actually made me enjoy my work more.
2. ARE THERE NOTICEABLE HEALTH BENEFITS
According to HarvardHealthOnline, “Swapping even just a few minutes of sitting with movement may lead to tangible improvements in heart health.”
There are so many studies that have linked health benefits to alternating between sitting and standing or getting some form of movement while working, especially for digital professionals.
Some of the health benefits include
-
Reduced risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI) – the back, waist, neck and wrist being the usual victims.
-
Reduced risk of weight gain
-
Improved posture
-
Increased Energy and focus levels
-
Stress reduction and improvement of your mood
I am not a health expert, but it’s a no-brainer that adjustable desks will improve your health in one way or another. I have noticed that my back and waist pains from prolonged periods of sitting are now gone. So yes, there are noticeable health benefits in my experience.
3. DOES IT MATTER IF YOU GET A CHEAP OR EXPENSIVE ONE?
If you search sit-stand desks on Amazon, you will find desks from as low as $100 up to almost $10k
To make it make sense, let’s break it down to cheap, mid and expensive.
Cheap being – $100 to $300
$300 to $1000, we’ll consider mid-range
And anything from $1000 above we’ll consider expensive.
I bought the desk I’m currently using for $300 (N500,000), so it’s one of the cheap ones.
One thing I’ve noticed when it comes to these desks is that even at the lower prices, you can still get surprisingly good desks. Unless you want specific features, brands, design, quality or just want to splurge on the latest and greatest, I think mid-range desks around $300 to $1k will serve you well
Which brings us to…
4. WHAT TO EXPECT AT DIFFERENT PRICE RANGES
On the lower price range of under $300 like mine, expect a basic adjustable desk with little to no fancy features like cable management, drawers, or special designs like the popular L-Shape design.
At around $300 to $1k, which is the range I think you get the most value for money, you’ll find really great-looking, strong desks that you will not feel a need to replace anytime soon.
From $1k and above, expect to find desks with great build quality, weird designs and all the bells and whistles you may or may not need
| Category | Price Range | What to Expect |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | $100–$300 | Basic functionality, minimal extras |
| Mid-Range | $300–$1,000 | Best value—great build, decent features |
| Premium | $1,000+ | Fancy designs, top-tier materials, extra features |
MY DESK SPECS
My $300 Desk is 55inches or 4.5ft in length, and about 28inches or 2.3ft deep with a desktop thickness of about 3cm.
The desk fully extends to a height of 47inches or 3.9ft
There are 3 programmable buttons to quickly adjust the table height.
To program the heights, I simply use the up and down buttons to take the desk to a desired height, then press and hold any of the numbered buttons to save the current desk height to that number, the screen blinks for a few seconds, and now anytime I press that number, the desk is adjusted to that height. I mostly use two presets, one for sitting and another for standing positions
A few other accessories the desk came with are a cup holder and a headphone holder.
It came with no cable management system, I had to get a $20 cable management rack and some double-sided adhesive tapes to stick up my cables, docking station and other accessories under the table to achieve a semi-decent cable management.
That’s about it! – Oh, my monitor stand is a DIY thing I made to create space for my MIDI keyboard. There was literally no room for my 43-inch TV I use as a monitor, and the MIDI keyboard that I needed to have quick access to.
Here is a link to my desk on Amazon
Which brings me to…
5. MISTAKES I MADE THAT YOU CAN AVOID
-
The first mistake I made was “SIZE” – My previous fixed custom-designed desk measures about 4ft, so I figured getting something slightly longer, like 4.5ft, would give me plenty of space to hold my 45-inch TV and my huge Yamaha HS8 speakers. Sadly, my blind estimation didn’t work; 4.5ft ended up not being enough. I had to get separate monitor stands to hold up the HS8s.
So my advice is, lay out your accessories and try as much as possible to measure exactly how much space you’ll need, and if in doubt, just go for bigger, as long as you have the room size. It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
-
My second mistake was not planning out my “cable management” from the outset. Thankfully, there are tons of cheap accessories to help with that, regardless of the kind of table you go with. But if you have the budget, it’s well worth it to consider desks that come with some type of cable management system.
And while we’re on the topic of mistakes, here are a few things not to obsess about when getting an adjustable desk
-
Stability – Before buying my desk, I went to a shop to get a feel of these things first hand and to shake them around like most reviewers do in YouTube videos, and I noticed that these desks generally have some wobble, because if you shake something, it will wobble, but I don’t think the wobbling is as terrible as some videos make them out to be, even the cheap ones that I checked out. On my desk, I mostly move my mouse around, type on my keyboard and play the keyboard when I’m making music, which is the most aggressive activity I do on it, stuff like that is what the vast majority of people will be doing on their desk, I struggle to see a scenerio where you’ll be shaking your desk back and forth like it owes you money and is refusing to pay. I’m not saying stability is not important; it is, but it is often over-exaggerated. Every desk will wobble when you shake it, just find one that is stable enough to do the kinds of tasks you need it for.
-
Brand Names – Whenever you buy a branded product, at least 20 to 30% of the amount you paid, is for the logo instead of actual value, so one thing I never obsess about is buying a specific brand simply because they are popular, industry standard or shows up again and again on every youtube video in my research. Now I’m not saying you should never buy popular brands, I’m saying, instead of buying solely because it’s a popular brand, what you should do instead is look at your specific needs, quality and features you want, the best value for your budget and use your common sense instead of buying based on emotions.
I can tell you that getting a sit-stand desk is one of those things that you feel little to no buyer’s remorse because once you start using it, you wonder how you’ve managed to survive without it, especially if you have never used one before, ever.
Disclosure:
TheBrimFactor is part of the Amazon Associates Program and other affiliate programs. This post may contain affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we use or trust. Amazon and its logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
