Author Topic: Office chairs  (Read 3404 times)

ian

Re: Office chairs
« Reply #25 on: 05 March, 2021, 06:41:41 pm »
Lugging that executive chair up the stairs nearly killed me (plus I figure it was only luck that the stairway walls are still intact) which is why it's not coming back down. Like TimC, I wouldn't pay that much for a chair, I just clicked the button in the mothership procurement system.

I apparently have an Ikea Långfjäll. I will need a few more drinks before I can pronounce that. It doesn't have all the knobs and levers of the other chair (you can spend weeks adjusting that), just up and down, but I'm perfectly happy with it. It's fairly small, so if you have hippo dimensions, probably not the chair for you. Otherwise, I find it very comfortable and I can spin around and rock back and forth in all the proper ways that a certified Product Leader needs.

Re: Office chairs
« Reply #26 on: 06 March, 2021, 07:37:41 am »
In time-honoured YACF fashion, I'd like to answer your question by not answering it at all but suggesting a substitute - a standing desk.

Best office furniture thing I have ever got.  Not massively expensive - about £175.  Really easy to use, has two electric presets, one for sitting and one for standing, so you don't have to stand all the time.

I used it a fair bit previously but, since reading Peter Walker's excellent book - 'The Miracle Pill' - which basically confirms what we know that cycling to work is the best thing that most people can do for their lifetime health - I've used it lots more.  He gives quite a few ways in which engaging the core muscles while standing rather than sitting is a good thing to do health-wise, from lengthening hip flexors to lowering cholesterol.  And why sitting immobile in a chair for an extended period is a really bad thing to do to yourself. 

Best bit for me is that I've seen an improvement in a long term neck issue I've had while cycling that no physio had been able to help with.   

If you have one of these then it doesn't much matter what chair you have as you won't use it so much!

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Office chairs
« Reply #27 on: 06 March, 2021, 08:39:26 am »
In time-honoured YACF fashion, I'd like to answer your question by not answering it at all but suggesting a substitute - a standing desk.

Don't forget the support socks.  The former owner of my LBS had spectacular varicose veins and eventually phlebitis from standing all day.

I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Office chairs
« Reply #28 on: 06 March, 2021, 08:54:18 am »
The main issue I have with those Aeron things is that they're HUGE, designed for the ISO standard man and I am below the average height for a woman at 5'3". Man-size chairs are always stupidly oversized for me and don't work at all.

If you think office chairs are expensive, look at wheelchairs sometime, the good ones, the ones that actual full-time, self propelling/operating users use. Thousands of pounds and have to work for 16-18 hours a day of use and not be shit (where not-shit is a series of compromises).

I guess thats what the Size A Aeron is meant for?
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Office chairs
« Reply #29 on: 06 March, 2021, 11:21:45 am »
In time-honoured YACF fashion, I'd like to answer your question by not answering it at all but suggesting a substitute - a standing desk.

Don't forget the support socks.  The former owner of my LBS had spectacular varicose veins and eventually phlebitis from standing all day.

Standing desks are normally adjustable so you do sit some of the time.  Sure, our bodies will eventually wear out whatever we do, but the prevailing view is that time spent standing will have a better long term result on overall health than time spent sitting.

Re: Office chairs
« Reply #30 on: 06 March, 2021, 11:44:45 am »
I feel a movable standing desk would inhibit the ability to cover and surround it in crap, which makes it scarcely a desk at all.

Re: Office chairs
« Reply #31 on: 06 March, 2021, 12:54:20 pm »
In time-honoured YACF fashion, I'd like to answer your question by not answering it at all but suggesting a substitute - a standing desk.

Don't forget the support socks.  The former owner of my LBS had spectacular varicose veins and eventually phlebitis from standing all day.

Standing desks are normally adjustable so you do sit some of the time.  Sure, our bodies will eventually wear out whatever we do, but the prevailing view is that time spent standing will have a better long term result on overall health than time spent sitting.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/why-sitting-too-much-is-bad-for-us/
Quote
Bus drivers and astronauts

The link between illness and sitting first emerged in the 1950s, when researchers found double decker bus drivers were twice as likely to have heart attacks as their bus conductor colleagues. The drivers sat for 90 per cent of their shifts, the conductors climbed about 600 stairs each working day.

It is thought excessive sitting slows the metabolism – which affects our ability to regulate blood sugar and blood pressure, and metabolise fat – and may cause weaker muscles and bones.

Research on astronauts in the early 70s found life in zero gravity was linked with accelerated bone and muscle loss and ageing.
Limitations with current research

Most of the evidence is based on observational studies, which have only shown an association between sitting and ill health but not a direct cause.

It seems to be active vs sedentary lifestyle, not standing vs sitting. Who would have thought a bus conductor going up and down stairs all day would have a more active job than a bus driver?

Try working at a sewing machine eight hours a day, would people prefer to stand or sit?

The problem is that a desk job is mainly intermittant tapping of keyboards and wiggling a mouse, answering the phone etc, ie no physical effort, not that it's done sitting down.

I would think during all human history any activity that could be done sitting down would have done sitting down, whether on a chair or the floor/ground.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/296769
Quote
Prolonged standing at work can cause health problems too

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Office chairs
« Reply #32 on: 06 March, 2021, 12:58:41 pm »
I feel a movable standing desk would inhibit the ability to cover and surround it in crap, which makes it scarcely a desk at all.

Barakta manages quite adequately.  There's an occasional small avalanche, which provides a useful reminder of neglected paperwork.

Personally, I reckon standing desks are for people whose legs are the same length.  I'd quite like an adjustable height desk for electronics fettling, thobut, as sometimes you want everything a bit higher to see the fiddly stuff.

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Office chairs
« Reply #33 on: 06 March, 2021, 04:43:59 pm »
In my case I usually change the height for varying levels of sitting downery to accommodate wonky arm problems. I do occasionally use it in standing mode but my hips don't much like it - in fact I'd rather walk than stand.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Office chairs
« Reply #34 on: 06 March, 2021, 06:15:10 pm »
I think my ideal office chair would be a desk a couple of cm lower. I don't want to sit any higher for various reasons. In fact I don't like office chairs and I use a standard "dining chair". It might even have come from Ikea.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Office chairs
« Reply #35 on: 06 March, 2021, 07:10:14 pm »
in fact I'd rather walk than stand.
I can sympathise. For the last couple of months before I got my hernia done, I could walk with no problems and even manage a 5k run, but standing still for more than a few minutes was agony. Strange things, bodies.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Office chairs
« Reply #36 on: 06 March, 2021, 07:45:04 pm »
Walking or running involves lots of different muscle groups moving, whereas standing involves holding a position which I think puts more strain on certain muscle groups and indeed on the joint itself. I have a suspected torn labrum which is also a likely issue.

Re: Office chairs
« Reply #37 on: 07 March, 2021, 07:14:39 pm »
Aaaarggghhh..

https://youtu.be/T2ncJ6ciGyM?t=44


 :o

Well someone had to do it..
Move Faster and Bake Things

Re: Office chairs
« Reply #38 on: 07 March, 2021, 07:22:12 pm »
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: Office chairs
« Reply #39 on: 08 March, 2021, 12:29:33 pm »
In time-honoured YACF fashion, I'd like to answer your question by not answering it at all but suggesting a substitute - a standing desk.

Don't forget the support socks.  The former owner of my LBS had spectacular varicose veins and eventually phlebitis from standing all day.

Standing desks are normally adjustable so you do sit some of the time.  Sure, our bodies will eventually wear out whatever we do, but the prevailing view is that time spent standing will have a better long term result on overall health than time spent sitting.

I got my employer to pay for a sit/stand desk (with an electric motor).  It was about £300 from Costco.  I am typing standing up at the moment...  :thumbsup:
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