While most health experts today are rightfully focused on COVID-19, there’s another pandemic ravaging this planet; a sneaky, silent killer that makes its victim all too comfortable before heartlessly snatching their life. The killer’s name is the act of sitting.
Many workers spend the better part of their waking hours willingly trapped sitting flat on a chair, and it’s unnatural. The human body was designed to require continued usage to function. Muscles need to be worked on, and blood needs to get pumped.
According to Live Science, adults who sit over eight hours a day are 17% more likely to die from cancer, 18% more likely to die from heart disease, and 91% more likely to get Type 2 Diabetes. To give the working world more flexibility and to kill this sedentary saboteur, furniture startup Uppeal has designed what they call “the most versatile adjustable height desk.”
Adjusting the way you want to work
Surely, nearly everyone has heard about the trend of standing desks and similar modern office improvements. Hip, techy companies all over have begun bringing in tables that convert from sitting to standing. However, what makes Uppeal Desk stand out, in a manner of speaking, is that with 32″ of total adjustability, it “offers the largest height range of any adjustable height desk. From the lowest position at 15″ to the standing position at 47″.”
This allows not only standing and chair sitting at various heights, but it also offers the unique benefit of floor sitting, a position that Uppeal says a quarter of the world’s population uses every day. This position also supposedly prevents a slew of health problems, including arthritis, and a position that can “improve creativity and productivity.”
Yet, Uppeal didn’t stop there, offering a myriad of enhancements to its customers. Such features include wide legs for “an incredibly stable and rigid frame,” motorized adjustment, sporting dual motors that can lift up to 350lbs at an “extremely fast rate,” and an integrated touch control panel that has programmable memory, allowing a user to save his or her favorite desk positions.
It also features an easy 15-minute assembly. Uppeal states that their desk “ships in three separate boxes along with all the tools required for assembly and detailed assembly instructions.” It’s currently available on Kickstarter, starting at $679, making it reasonably around the middle of the pack price-wise, with some competitors falling below $600 and some going for well north of $1,200.
The story behind the desk
According to founder and CEO Greg Klein, the key to a good table is flexibility. “Like many people, I (had) recently started working from home. I loved my standing desk, but I often found myself working at my coffee table and sitting on the floor as another option,” he said. He explained that “This was a great way to break up my day, and I found it made me more productive and I felt better as well. I wanted a desk that allowed for standing and floor sitting, but I was surprised no existing design allowed this, so I decided to build my own.” After establishing his company in 2020 with his team, he says that he’s dedicated himself to “making a product that enables productivity. Functional but minimalist designs that don’t cost an arm and a leg.”
While I don’t have an adjustable desk of my own to get in the mood of this story, I felt it appropriate to write the vast majority of this piece standing up, propping my device on a dresser. And I will say, without even knowing the health benefits, it feels better to have a little variation in the workplace. Perhaps Uppeal may very well be on to something to support and improve our wellbeing while working from home.
YouTube: Sit, Stand, or Do Yoga, on the Height-Adjustable Uppeal Desk
Photo credit: The images are owned by Uppeal and have been provided for press usage.
Source: Laura Geggel (Live Science)
