The Yo-Yo standing desk – review and benefits

I’ve been working from home for the last couple of years now, with a new ‘hybrid’ arrangement meaning that I can do three days at home and two days in the office.

But even before this new way of working, my ways of working in the home office and actual office have always had two things in common – I’ve sat at my desk.

Sitting on an office chair is norm in every office, however, the effect this can have on us is astounding. An incorrectly adjusted chair can result in back, neck and shoulder problems, and it’s not just the chairs that are the issue. Sitting down for eight hours a day can:

• increase your risk of cardiovascular diseases
• increase your risk of obesity
• cause varicose veins
• deteriorate blood circulation
• increase your risk of osteoporosis.

This is scary, especially as I sit down for eight hours, five days a week, and have done for the last five years. While being active outside of work can help (running, yoga, walking, gardening, anything active), being sedentary for this long is still not a good thing.

Standing desks and kneeling chairs have claimed to be the answer to such problems for a few years now, but do they really work?

*I was gifted the Cube S standing desk from Yo-Yo Desk in exchange for an honest review. The review is all my opinion and unbiased, as I have no affiliation with this company.

The Yo-Yo Desk Cube-S standing desk

Standing desks do exactly what they say – they allow you to stand and work, instead of sitting down. But what I love the most about Yo-Yo Desk’s products is they are add-ons to existing desks.

In my home office, the desks are built in, so buying a full standing desk wasn’t an option. This is why, instead, I could go for the slim Cube-S desk riser that sits on top of my current desk.

Features I love:

• Can convert any desk into a standing desk
• Offers 30 adjustable heights, so there should be one for you no matter how tall or short you are
• Comes in various sizes to fit on almost any desk, even on corner desks
• Split level options, so you can have your keyboard on one level and your screen at another
• Easy to adjust in just a few seconds
• Three year warranty

 

How did I find the Yo-Yo Cube S desk?

I’ve never used a standing desk before, but always liked the idea of it. I tested the desk for a full seven days to bring you my own thoughts and opinions on the product.

• Setup

Setting up the desk was really easy. It didn’t take the five minutes that is advertised on the site (though it may have done if it was our second or third time of doing it), but it still took less than 15 minutes, which is extremely quick and easy.

• Weight/sturdiness

The desk itself is fairly heavy (18kg according to the website). While this is great, as it shows the product is solid and good quality, it would probably take two people to lift it up onto a desk. Once it’s there though, it’s rare you’ll need to move it, so I don’t see its weight as being a problem. This also makes the desk extremely sturdy, with a maximum weight capacity of 15kg, no wobbles and a reduced chance of it breaking.

• Increased workspace

The height adjustable desk is obviously there to lift your screen and keyboard/mouse off the desk surface, and I love that I’ve found new space underneath it to put things away tidily. My notebook and laptop slot underneath nicely, and the standing desk is big enough to hold my pen pot and other everyday items on top of it for easy access.

• Standing vs. sitting

Standing definitely took some getting used to as, unless I’m in a queue, standing stationary for a long time isn’t something I’ve done a lot. I still think I’ll need another few days/weeks of practice to adjust. I absolutely felt it in my feet and my legs, but this is clearly because I’m used to sitting down and not using those muscles as much day to day. Over time, I imagine this will get easier and I may even notice a difference in how toned those muscles are.

The anti-fatigue mat that comes with the desk does help. It has a very spongey surface, similar to that of a yoga mat or memory foam. The mat can actually help to encourage optimal movement while standing, and helps to boost the blood circulation in your legs.

• Adjusting the height

I wasn’t convinced that adjusting the height of the standing desk would take ‘seconds’ as stated on the website. But it literally does, thanks to the assistance of the gas spring.

You pull a lever located in an easy-access place on the side of the desk and it slowly rises. To decrease the desk, you press down on the lever. This means you can switch between sitting and standing without needing to remove the standing desk altogether.

I was also concerned about how high the desk could go, and I didn’t want to be slightly looking down at my monitor. However, I’m 5ft 7in and I’ve managed to get the desk high enough so the screen is perfectly at eye level. This is important to avoid neck and shoulder problems.

What are the benefits of a standing desk?

• Reduces your risk of obesity

Obesity is a problem worldwide, particularly as we reach for comfort and easy-eating foods over healthier choices. This issue is only exacerbated by the reduced amount of exercise we’re doing, and the amount of time we spend sitting in a chair.

Standing can burn an additional 170 calories compared to sitting. While this doesn’t sound like a lot, when you stand at your desk every day, you’re staying a bit more active. It means you could burn almost 1,000 calories a week by making a switch to a standing desk.

• Lowers blood sugar

Some studies have shown that standing, even for just a couple of hours after lunch, could reduce the blood sugar spike caused by eating by almost 50%. Another study also found that alternating sitting and standing throughout the day reduced blood sugar spikes by around 11% on average.

This shows that you don’t have to stand for the whole eight hours of the working day, but can do so occasionally. The Yo-Yo desks are made for this, as you can easily increase and decrease their height in just a few seconds, making them the right height for your desk chair as well as standing sessions.

• Reduces back pain

As someone who has used an office chair for so long, I’ve had my fair share of back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain. It seems to flare up, last a few weeks and then disappear, only for the pain to reappear in another place. I’ve had tingling down one arm, stiff shoulders and more. But standing is a much more natural position and could reduce these kinds of pains you regularly experience when sitting.

 

Visit the Yo-Yo Desk website today to browse their collections and find out more information about their standing desks.