FlexiSpot standing desk

FlexiSpot Bamboo Standing Desk: Better for You and the Environment

Standing desk image courtesy of FlexiSpot

You might not realize it, but the average American sits down for about 10 hours a day. It’s true. Between the time spent working at your desk, your commute, eating meals and relaxing at home, it all adds up pretty quickly. You may actually find you’re actually spending more time sitting down than you realized.

Unfortunately, spending too much time sitting down can have a significant impact on your health. According to studies, sitting for too long can negatively impact your blood pressure, your metabolism, your immune system and more. You could even become more prone to heart disease, diabetes or a stroke. Some studies have even claimed sitting is the new smoking. While it’s tough to compare the two, sitting can definitely have a negative effect on one’s health.

Actions You Can Take to Reduce Your Sitting Time

If you have found you sit down too much every day, there are a number of actions you can take to get yourself off your rear and get mobile. Each of these is relatively simple and all of them can be beneficial for your health.

  • Set a timer on your phone to go off every hour to remind you to get up and move. Even if you do something as simple as standing up, stretching and maybe walking around for a minute, this can be helpful.
  • Consider a different form of transportation to and from work. If you currently drive to work, consider riding your bike, walking or using public transportation. Each of these could result in a little less time seated.
  • Schedule some time outdoors on a daily basis. There are countless, biofriendly reasons you’ll want to unplug and get outdoors. Besides the fresh air, getting outdoors is one of the simplest ways to reduce your sitting time (as long as you don’t just go outside and sit down…lol). Go for a walk, a hike or a bike ride.
  • Opt for a standing desk rather than being seated for work all day long. If you get an adjustable standing desk, you can split your time between standing and sitting, so as to help you adjust to the change and still get you out of your chair.

Eco-Friendly Benefits of a Bamboo Standing Desk

In addition to health benefits of having a standing desk, the right standing desk can have environmental benefits as well. Take, for example, a bamboo standing desk. Instead of using traditional wood for their desks, some companies are choosing to use bamboo as an eco-friendly alternative.

While some may raise questions as to the sustainability of bamboo, when done right, its use can minimize the environmental impact a product may have on the environment. Bamboo is extremely fast-growing, durable and requires less water to grow. In addition, bamboo is often grown without the use of harmful pesticides and chemicals.

FlexiSpot Bamboo Standing Desk Product Review

We decided to check out the health and environmental benefits of a standing desk for ourselves. So, we choose the FlexiSpot Standing Desk with the bamboo top for our test. Please note, in the interest of transparency, FlexiSpot did provide us with the desk at no cost for our review. However, the review, viewpoints and opinions are solely our own.

As I mentioned, we decided to go with the bamboo model, due to its environmental benefits over traditional wood. We also opted for the electric, height-adjustable feature because, I don’t know about you, but after having spent most of my life sitting at a desk while working, I was worried switching to a standing desk would prove somewhat challenging.

While using a standing desk does take some getting used to, being able to be out of a chair for a few more hours a day is well worth it. On a separate note, I also choose to get myself a standing desk “anti-fatigue” mat, which I’m very glad I did. It really seems to help when I’ve got the desk in the standing position.

Now let me get down to reviewing some of the specifics of the desk:

Packaging:

The bamboo desk top was shipped to me first. It came in a plain brown box. Unfortunately, there was no information, instructions or even any documentation in the box. It was simply the desk top and that’s it. I came to find the leg frames were out of stock, which understandably can happen, but I wasn’t notified of this fact immediately. It was approximately one more month before the leg frames arrived.

That being said, both boxes arrived in good condition with no noticeable damage. All parts and pieces, along with assembly instructions, were included with the leg frames.

There were a few pieces of Styrofoam inside the boxes to protect the desk. While I know many companies still use these types of filler/protective packaging products, they’re not all good for the environment. Fortunately, more eco-friendly protective packaging solutions exist.

Product:

The desk itself is very minimalistic, but that’s a good thing. It is not too big, nor too small. It’s simple, without a lot of excess parts and pieces. It was relatively easy to put together, too. In fact, my 14-year-old son wanted to put the desk together for me and had no trouble doing so.

The only issue was the tray designed to hold the cables up, so they don’t hang down in an unsightly manner, didn’t have any holes on one end to screw it to the desk top. In addition, even if it had, there weren’t any holes on the underside of the desk table to screw in both sides of the tray. So, if I want to use the cable tray, I’ll have to drill some holes of my own.

Quality:

The desk is decent quality. The bamboo desk top seems to be well made and serves its purpose. It’s sturdy and I don’t worry about it breaking or any damage being caused from daily use.

My young nephew (2-years old) even decided to test out the motor and the desk’s durability when it came to going up to the standing position and back down again. Let me tell you, he tested it a lot and it worked brilliantly. There have been no problems with it since then either. It moves up and down smoothly.

Another benefit to getting the adjustable desk is it has a feature where you can program in a few different settings. It has a base setting (where the desk goes when it lowers down), a seated setting you can use if you want to sit down at the desk and two standing settings so more than one person can use the desk.

The desk also seems to have a safety feature wherein if the desk is rising to a standing position and it gets bonked or hit, it will stop rising and go back to its original base setting.

Feel:

The desktop is made from bamboo and has a clear coating on it. It’s a smooth surface and easy to work on. I haven’t noticed any dents or scratches either. The leg frames are metal and don’t really impact the use of the desk, other than to hold it up and keep it stable. I haven’t noticed any sharp parts or pieces.

I, personally, wish either the flat base under the desk legs was either a bit shorter or the desk top was a bit larger so it could be flush against the wall. As it is right now, there is a gap between the desk and the wall which can allow things to fall behind the desk.

Due the fact the design is a relatively simple and lightweight, the desk can be easily moved from one location to other, should you decide to redesign your work space or simply want a change of pace. So that’s a plus.

Cost:

The cost of the the bamboo, adjustable standing desk is fairly reasonable. Depending on the type of desk you want, you can spend between $280 and $900 on average. You can buy a standing desk with drawers, with storage cubies, in an l-shape, with an ergonomic design and more. There’s pretty much an option for anyone.

You don’t have to get a bamboo desk, either, but it is the one I’d recommend. You may want to check out their home office all-in-one bike desk or under desk bike, too. I haven’t tried either of those myself, but I like the idea of being able to continually move even while seated.

Overall Rating:

Overall, I’d say FlexiSpot has a good line of products. While, yes, there are probably some changes they could make to improve sustainability efforts and design/functionality, their bamboo standing desk is definitely beneficial to a person’s health. It doesn’t carry a significant impact on the environment either, especially compared to other similar products.

One particular feature I really like on my standing desk is it has a timer you can set. So, if you do put the desk in the lower, seated position, as soon as the timer runs down, the desk will raise back up to your standing position. It’s nice to have your desk remind you to get up.

Another added benefit is One Tree Planted will plant a tree for every Kana bamboo desk FlexiSpot sells.

In Summary

From my experience with this product, I would recommend checking it out. With the volume of work many of us are doing in this day and age, being up on your feet part of the time can be quite beneficial. Sometimes when I’m working, I get so immersed in what I’m doing, I forget to take a break, stand up and walk around. With a standing desk or desk converter, you don’t have to worry about it as much.

Then, if you make sure to unplug and spend a little time outdoors, too, life will be even better!

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