There are numerous routes to take when choosing a new desk for your gaming station. For many, things like the size of the desk, its compartments, and even the color and finish are deciding factors that account for a final purchase. The costs can catch up to you if you’re not sure what you’re looking for, so it’s recommended that when you do purchase a desk, you’re choosing one that you’ll keep for a significant amount of time. Check out this extensive list for a good gaming desk that suits your needs.
A gaming station is your space away from the world; a chance to allow for a little break from the day-to-day jobs, stresses, and people you interact with regularly. Gaming is a very social experience nowadays, but it still offers you the recluse of some time to yourself, even if you’re gaming with friends online. Therefore, a desk is quite literally a physical space where your relaxation and break from life occur. It’s important, which is why many see gaming as a lifestyle more than a hobby. Gaming is a part of a lot of people’s identity, and that identity deserves an adequate space.
For PC gamers, the act of sitting and gaming is iconic. Time spent in front of a monitor playing games for hours upon days can take its toll, however. In this article, let’s take a look at the benefits of a standing desk, and explore ways that you can go about a DIY standing desk project.
Sitting’s Silent Threat
The “normal” way to game for quite some time has been while seated. At a desk, your left with little options, and even while gaming on a console, you often sit in front of the screen as well. Sitting is a staple in media consumption. Movie theaters, live performances, and sporting events all feature seated viewing. Even at work, we’re often expected to be seated at a desk while working on our tasks and goals. If everyone’s doing it this way, why would we want our free time, gaming or not, to be any different.
Well for one, it’s not great for us to be seated for very long durations. If you have a smart watch, you’ll know this too well. Every hour my watch reminds me to get up and move, even if it’s just for a minute. There are a few reasons to be concerned with getting up regularly.
Blood Flow
Standing ensures that the blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body is working smoothly. Inactivity slows down blood flow and makes it a bit harder for every inch of the body to get what it needs in a timely manner. It might not matter for an hour or two, but after five or six hours consistently seated, there’s a chance your limbs might be “asleep”, or lacking the adequate amount of blood. Sure, the increase in blood flow while standing can cause swelling after a long period of time, but sitting does much more damage.
Risk of Disease
Studies show that sitting for the majority of your day increases your chance of stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. Activity is craved by the body, and while sitting might sound nice after a long day, too much of it can actually reverse the activity done throughout the day. While we’re young, these issues may not seem like immediate threats, but their likelihood increases with every day we spend sitting around doing nothing. Even if you’re actively working on a puzzle in your favorite game, or using critical thinking to beat a boss, your brain’s activity is negated by the fact that you’re sitting while playing. If you game for long sessions, it’s likely you’re doing damage to your heart and bones. So what can we do about it?
Start Standing
If you’re concerned about the issues above, the easiest way to start combating increased periods of sitting is to do the opposite: stand! Standing has numerous benefits to it and actually becomes a very natural way to game after a few days of trying it. For many, it seems like much more of a hassle than a perk, but when you’re experiencing these advantages, you’ll learn quickly that it’s worth the added effort.
Flexibility
You don’t have to do toe touches or leg extensions while gaming to increase your flexibility. The more you stand, the more your limbs are ready and active to be utilized to their full range of motion. If you’ve ever felt “stiff” after a long car ride or an extended stay on the couch, you’ll know the feeling of your muscles literally begging for movement and use. Standing eliminates this issues, and for many, can be just as effective as stretching.
Posture
If you read the word posture and immediately sat up straight, chances are you could be doing more to improve your posture. Standing naturally allows us the ability to stand as we were meant to be standing. Sitting eliminates the onus on us to hold our bodies up in the proper manner, and we often lean forward. Excessive sitting can lead to spine and neck pain, and at the end of a long movie at the theater you can feel the strain. Imagine that strain building up over the years, and that’s the threat bad posture can pose. Standing keeps our back straight and neck at a natural level to ensure we won’t be hunching over involuntarily.
General Health
You burn calories while standing, and that’s without any added effort. The act of holding your body weight up naturally while on your feet burns calories. Not enough to allow your diet to go haywire, but it’s a nice perk to being on your feet during what should be “relaxation time.” For many of us, working out is a struggle, and while you won’t bulk up after a gaming session at your standing desk, you will at least be more active than you would have been sitting. It’s important to get any added health benefits where you can while you can. For some, standing isn’t an option. If you’re fortunate enough to choose, it’s likely a positive choice to choose the one that allows you to use your natural ability to stand.
How to Transition to a Standing Desk
I’ll be honest, it’s not an easy transition to a standing desk. Your body will be sore if it’s not use to being on duty during off hours. In other words, if you’re sitting a lot now, you’ll notice increased tension in your limbs now that they’re being fully utilized. It may also affect your game play a bit as well. With seated gaming, we get comfortable, even sometimes subconsciously, with certain positions and postures. Whether they’re good for us or not, we game in positions we feel are essential to video game success.
The first step is obviously to obtain the desk. There are a few ways to go about this. First, you can use the desk you already have and purchase risers for the monitor. The issue with this is that some risers are only supportive of certain sizes of monitors, and they’re not always clear about dimensions. Nevertheless, these risers allow you to place a single device on your already-owned desk and be able to stand and play. The cut of your desk, however, may not be functional for standing, forcing you to be too far or too close to see. It’s a great fix for those looking to keep the desk they have, but there are better options out there that accommodate your need to stand and game.
You can also buy a desk that is permanently a standing desk. These do have the ability to place yourself within the confines of a sort of wrap-around design, but they suffer from one major design flaw. Most standing desks cannot be transitioned into a sitting desk, so should you need to sit even for 5 minutes, you do not have that option. It’s a perk of the risers: the ability to add on the ability to stand, but it also can be a hassle to move your monitor on and off the device. There’s one design that serves as the best of both worlds, and it even adjusts itself for you.
Let your Standing Desk Do the Work For You
A route to go if you don’t want to hassle with a desk you already own or buy a desk that limits you to only standing is to buy a desk that does both. The Autonomous Height Adjustable desk allows you the choice to sit or stand, and best of all, you don’t have to manually move the desk. The Autonomous desk is fully electric in its sit-to-stand motor functions, and you can program your desired heights into the desk so you just have to press a button for what you want.
The ability to choose your height allows you to move towards the healthier, standing-while-playing lifestyle, but offer you the ability to take a break without having to stop gaming. With a riser, you’re forced to manually move the riser and sometimes forced to remove it from the desk entirely to sit. With a standing-only desk, if you need a rest to sit, you can’t see your screen because the desk is stuck at its required height. The Autonomous desk solves both of these problems while also making it easier for you to game the way you want to game.
The Autonomous stand up desk is also built to last. Some standing desks you buy online are plastic-based, and that means they’re prone to heat and bending. The Autonomous desk is build to withstand combat and designed with state-of-the-art materials that make sure your PC gaming essentials and accessories are safe. The Autonomous desk is a great choice for safety concerns thanks to its design. With a build meant to not only hold your gaming PC but also allow it to safely move up and down with its electronic motor, you’re ensured a safe home for you gaming station.
Best of all, the Autonomous desk is designed to be ergonomically proficient whether you sit or stand. The design of the desk surface is meant to allow you space to sit and use a keyboard and mouse, sit back with a controller, or stand comfortably within a viable view of the desk while on your feet. Some designs make it hard to do one or the other, but the ergonomic design of Autonomous desk allows for guaranteed comfort no matter how you’re gaming at the moment. With no added effort, the Autonomous desk at any time or with your any desire can make sure to be where you need it to be. No desk does more to ensure player comfort, and if you’re dedicated to the standing while gaming motion, you can ease yourself in by letting the desk move itself down for a few minutes of seated gaming if you want to rest. There’s so much built into the Autonomous desk, you’ll find it hard not to feel motivated to stand and play.
Conclusion
Over the next few years, the trend of standing while gaming will grow because of its benefits to health and well-being. Gamers tend to pick up their habits at a young age, and old habits die hard. Sitting while gaming is a huge part of video game culture, but it will begin to fade in favor of a healthier alternative. Instead of being told to “go outside” to get exercise and stop being so immobile, it will become much more common to see standing desks at PC gaming stations. That being said, it’s not always ideal to stand. Sitting should still be an option, and isn’t possible for some gamers. The Autonomous standing desk allows for both with very little effort. No manual moving, no worries about hardware safety. Only you and your perfect gaming desk. So take a stand and start standing while gaming! Your body and mind will thank you.
