Stand Up For A Happier & Healthier Home Office
Items gifted for review
Over the past couple of years a lot of people have started to make the change from attending a fixed workplace to spending some or all of their time working from home.
The COVID-19 lockdown, with the requirement to stay at home, certainly helped push a lot of people towards home working that would never have previously considered it as an option. However, even when the working from home mandate came to an end a lot of companies made the decision that having their employees spending some time working from home made sense both in terms of improving work-life balance and in reducing workplace costs.
Personally I have been doing a degree of home working for a few years now, including some online meetings for my ‘proper’ career but also for my blogging and eBay selling work. Last year, as both Sarah and I were necessarily working every shift from home, we had our garage converted into a home office to help with this. Gone were the days of being hunched over a laptop on the sofa!
What we came to realise was that working from home has a lot of benefits, in terms of flexibility, removal of the 2hr round trip to work each day and the ability to pop out to do the school run and generally spend more time at home with Joshua. However, home working also has its drawbacks, in terms of feeling isolated from colleagues, losing separation between home and work and spending the entire day sitting at a fixed desk in a non-ergonomic chair on MS Teams!
Fortunately the opportunity to review a standing desk from Yo-Yo Desk came at a good time and has really made a difference to working at home now that I’m fully engaged in hybrid working.
Yo-Yo Desk Pro 1
The model I agreed to review was the Yo-Yo Desk Pro 1, which is their economy, single-motor desk, suitable for users up to 6″1′ in height.
One of the main benefits of this desk is its simplicity and ease of use. Installation was provided for my review and took around 20 minutes for one man to put together, but it’s certainly something you could do yourself if you have some basic tools and DIY skills. Currently installation is provided for free for their standard delivery package so it’s worth taking advantage of.
The desk itself is powered by one plug, which works with standard UK sockets, and the full extent of the electrical control system is an up and down button, so it is very easy to get started! As you can probably guess, to extend the desk to full standing height you just press and hold the up button until it reaches a height you are happy with. To lower it back to seated height is as simple as pressing and holding the down button. It really is that simple!
The Yo-Yo Desk Pro 1 is as stylish as it is simple, coming in a wide variety of frame and desk colours, as shown below. It also comes in 3 desk sizes, or can be purchased with just the frame, so you can attach your own desk top.
The frame only price for the Yo-Yo Desk Pro 1 is £327.95, whilst the largest desk option is £447.95. You can also add various extras including cable management, porthole and power supply options for an additional cost. We have the Yo-Yo Anti-Fatigue Mat which encourages movement and increases blood circulation and that helps make standing even more comfortable when using the desk.
Benefits of Standing Desks
Most people who work at a desk as part of their job will know that after a while your body starts to ache a little. Be it your back or neck from sitting awkwardly, your wrists from the angle you’re typing at, or even your bum from sitting on an uncomfortable chair for a prolonged period!
The standing desk is designed to help combat some of those issues by enabling you to divide your work time between sitting and standing. Standing desks are becoming increasingly popular and are found to help burn calories, increase metabolism, improve posture and breathing and help get more oxygen to your brain. Many people also find that they are more assertive and productive when standing up, so standing up can be good for important calls, or the start of the working day when you are quickly prioritising emails or tasks.
I’ve found it useful to alternate during the day, so I will do a few tasks whilst standing and then sit down again for more process-driven tasks. At first it felt a bit odd to be standing up whilst typing, but after a few days it felt a lot more natural and it definitely feels good to get the blood flowing and the muscles stretching at regular intervals throughout the day. I also now generally do all my eBay console testing whilst stood up as that it definitely one task that feels more normal whilst standing.
In general I’ve found certain tasks I prefer to do whilst standing and certain tasks I prefer to do whilst sitting, so I will now try to alternate between them so I get the benefits of both aspects of the desk and the health aspects of standing.
Sarah and I weren’t sure if a standing desk was something we would ever use or whether standing up whilst working was something we could benefit from. But having now used it for over a month I can honestly say we really enjoy it and it’s become a normal part of our working routine. We have noticeably felt less achy after a full day working from home and I definitely feel more comfortable standing up when on calls and when working through certain tasks.
There are quite a few desk options on the Yo-Yo Desk website to choose from, at various price points and in various styles, so it’s well worth a look if you’re considering raising your game by raising your desk!
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