When I first started researching standing desks in my effort to lose weight with a desk job, I didn’t even consider how high should a standing desk be. I’m slightly below average height for a woman and so I felt like an average-height standing desk would be fine for my needs, however, I have found I have to have my standing desk at the highest possible setting.
This could be because I’m using an under desk treadmill underneath my standing desk, or it might be that there isn’t enough information online on how high should a standing desk be, but either way I got very lucky that mine was suitable for my needs.
What I learned early on with my standing desk is that your keyboard should sit at elbow or waist level and your monitor should sit at eye level. This is all unique to your own body measurements.
But this blog post is to help you not make the same mistakes that I made which could have resulted in a very expensive trip back to Amazon for a different solution.
How high SHOULD a standing desk be?
During a brief moment of panic after unboxing and setting everything up, I investigated the best height for standing desks just to be sure I wasn’t going to find any physical discomfort with my new setup.
On a quick Google search, I found advice stating that assuming you are average height, a standing desk should be around waist level. This will allow you to keep your back straight and avoid hunching over, which can lead to pain and poor posture.
However, now that I have a standing desk of my own and have used it every working day, I would recommend aiming for elbow height to ensure you can effectively type while using your standing desk.
It may be that waist height and elbow height are the same for you (they’re pretty close for me) but you can’t be sure it’ll be the same for everyone’s body. So when considering HOW you’ll be using your standing desk, it makes a lot more sense to consider your elbows rather than your waist.
Of course, everyone is different and you may need to adjust the height of your desk accordingly. If you find yourself constantly slouching or hunching over, it may be time to raise your desk a few inches. Conversely, if you find yourself stretching too much or straining to reach your keyboard, you may need to lower it slightly.
Consider how high each level is
My standing desk converter has two levels, a lower one for the keyboard and a higher one for my monitor. This works perfectly as my monitor is at eye level while my keyboard is at elbow level. As I said, this was by pure luck as I just brought the cheapest converter I could find on Amazon, but I’ve found a lot of complaints I’ve read about since online haven’t been my experience and I think it’s due to having two levels.
However, it’s worth noting that if the standing desk you buy has two levels then the highest setting will be for the top of your stand, not necessarily the section you’ll sit your keyboard. So make sure you get those measurements right and research all your options before investing.
Listen to your body and make the necessary adjustments to find the perfect height for your standing desk
I recommend buying an adjustable standing desk converter rather than a normal standing desk as you’ll have the option to play around with the best standing desk height for you personally. If you just buy a standing desk then you’re stuck with the height you get and I think this is one of those purchases you have to try to get right!