How to Set up an Ergonomic Study Desk for Your Children?

It's hard to argue with the fact that we're moving into an era that is going to see more children being schooled at home than ever. Whether that's doing their classes over Zoom or being fully homeschooled by you, they're going to be doing a lot more schoolwork around the house. With this increase in work comes an increased time spent sitting down. While they would be sitting down in school with no choice, you do have options at home, for example, an ergonomic study desk.

You might be surprised to hear this, but how you sit, and how often you sit both have a massive effect on your posture, how you age, and more. While it's uncommon in children to see the impacts of prolonged sitting on display, this is the perfect time to begin teaching them how to keep their back in good condition. 

Getting an ergonomic study desk for your child is going to save them a lot of pain and irritation in the future. How much pain and irritation that is, is proportional to how long they end up spending in a seat every day. Therefore, if they go into a desk job career, they're going to be thanking you. 

The Benefits of an Ergonomic Study Desk for Kids

One of the biggest issues we as a society face right now is recognizing the adverse effects that an office nine to five has on your health. Until one or two generations ago, it wasn't the norm to work at a desk for your entire life. However, as time goes on and more and more people take office jobs, we need to realize the challenges that come with that and how to combat them. 

You've probably seen it yourself, people with slumped shoulders, hunched over at the back when they're walking. You can see it as early as someone's teen years. What once would have just been called improper posture is indicative of someone that spends too long at a desk, and is much more impactful beyond one's appearance. 

People with this issue typically experience excruciating back pain. When you're sitting down, you put your spine at an unnatural bend. This is especially true when you're sitting bent over writing notes or reading a textbook. Over time, your back learns to accommodate this bend and develops a permanent arch because it's used to being in this position.

This arch completely messes your back up. After this, it's not uncommon to get terrible lower back pains when you're sitting or standing. In the worst-case scenario, it actually feels like a pulled muscle, and you aren't going to be able to walk. 

Typically this is the result of a lifetime of sitting at traditional desks from an early age. As a parent with control over your kid's study desk, you have the ability to help prevent this negative development, or at the very least, educate them on it.

If we look at the specific benefits that an ergonomic desk has for your kids, we can break it down into two categories: Physical and mental.

1. The Physical Benefits of an Ergonomic Study Desk

We've already talked about the effects that the ergonomic study desk can have on your back, but there are many more benefits than that.

When you use an ergonomic desk, you burn additional calories. Researchers put that number at around 1000 per week for a working adult, so it's safe to assume that it's proportional to a student child, it's about half of one day's worth of calories. 

While this is going to help you combat obesity and keep your kids on a healthy diet, it actually has a look at internal benefits. 

For example, due to this extra calorie burn, people that use ergonomic desks are significantly less likely to develop diabetes. Specifically, it results in a 43% percent lower blood sugar spike after eating. 

Excessive sedimentary times is reported to increase the risk of you developing type 2 diabetes by 112% percent. Therefore, if that's a concern for you, then an ergonomic study desk might be worth the investment.

As well as diabetes, the additional calorie burns that your child experiences are going to help keep their heart healthy. While it's not at the front of your mind when it comes to your young kids, it's important to know that excessive sitting times are linked to the development of heart disease. 

The number that researchers have put on this is 147% percent, but the number varies depending on the study. One thing that all scientists agree on, however, is that sitting down is bad for your heart. Using an ergonomic desk is only going to help your child's development and keep their heart working in tip-top condition. 

2. The Mental Benefits of an Ergonomic Study Desk

While the physical benefits that your child gets from an ergonomic study desk are important, the mental ones are even more so. 

As a side effect of that extra calorie burn, our brains are going to produce more endorphins. These are chemicals released to make us feel good about working out and encourage us to exercise while standing at desk. 

When your child experiences an increase in endorphin production, they are going to be much more noticeably happier and more confident in themselves. 

It's going to boost their mood, energy levels, productivity, and self-image. In a modern world, monitoring and looking after your child's mental health is just as important as looking after their physical health, albeit more difficult. An ergonomic study desk is going to help you with that, keeping your kid in good spirits while they're doing schoolwork. 

How to Set Up an Ergonomic School Desk and Chair for Your Kids

The whole point of ergonomic study equipment is that it can be adjusted specifically for your body type. 

When you're setting up your ergonomic school desk and chair for your kids, you want to start with the chair and height. You want to set it so that both your child's feet are firmly placed on the floor in a comfortable position.

Once the height is set up, you need to adjust the tilt of the backrest. We all love slouching down into a chair, but that kind of posture is exactly what is doing all of the damage. Have your kid sit up straight with their back tucked against the curve of the ergonomic study desk. This lumbar support mimics the curve of their back. Once they are sitting up straight and back into the chair, adjust the tilt until they are perpendicular to the floor when sitting.  

When they place their arms on the desk, both their arms and legs should also be perpendicular to the floor. Test this and make any additional adjustments that you need to. 

When you're setting up the ergonomic study desk, all you have to worry about is height, and this is easy to set up because we already took care of the chair. 

The important thing to remember is that if there is a computer set up on the desk, you want the following measurements:

• Make sure that their eyes are level with the top of the computer monitor. 

• Make sure that they don't have to reach for the keyboard and mouse and can control them while keeping their elbow bent.

• Make sure their shoulders are relaxed and not hunched up. 

If you pay attention to these guidelines, then you should have no problem setting up the desk. If there is no computer set up, adopt the guidelines for keyboard and mouse to their school books.

The Best Ergonomic Desk and Chair for Schoolkids

If you decided to go shopping for an ergonomic study desk after this, you wouldn't have much luck. There aren't many retailers out there that sell ergonomic desks with any amount of variety, even with how popular the trend now is. 

However, if you go looking online, you get swamped with hundreds of different options, which can be just as troublesome. 

We want to save you the trouble of having to set out on your own to find a desk and chair by offering a solution, the ErgoChair Pro and SmartDesk 2 (Standard) from Autonomous. 

If you're looking for ergonomic kid's desk and chair sets, you aren't going to find a better option than these two.  

1. SmartDesk 2 (Standard)

Starting out with the SmartDesk, what makes this ergonomic kid's study desk such a market leader is it's motorized functionality.

You see, most ergonomic desks need to be adjusted by hand. This can be an absolute pain to deal with, requiring you to twist and contort all to move it up or down a few inches.

The SmartDesk has motorized legs that adjust for you, so all you have to do is press a button. You get multiple presets that you can reprogram, so you can set it up at different heights to suit your different needs.

If more than one person uses the ergonomic study desk, or they want to switch between sitting and standing, one of the standing desk tips or even if you want the desk to grow with their growth-spurts, the SmartDesk 2 (Standard) can accommodate all of that. 

The desk also comes with a five-year warranty, which is particularly useful when you're dealing with small kids that might accidentally break something. 

You get fast delivery, taking no more than two weeks for international orders, as well as a variety of leg and tabletop combinations to browse.

Autonomous is the manufacturer of the SmartDesk. When you buy an automatic ergonomic study desk from somewhere else, you're buying from a retailer. That retailer has bought from a wholesaler that has bought from the manufacturer. This means that you're paying the profit markup for two mediators, which drastically drives the price up. It's not uncommon to see this kind of standing desk sell for over $1000 dollars. 

However, $499 dollars for a desk is still out of the range of some people's budget, and that's understandable. 

Autonomous doesn't want a class-barrier involved with maintaining a healthy back, though, which is why the company offers you the option of paying in monthly installments. This takes your price tag from one lump $500+ dollar sum down to $50 dollars per month, which is much more affordable. 

This ergonomic desk comes with all of the benefits that we talked about earlier. Thus, if you want to keep your kid in good shape, as well as happy while they work, then this is an investment that you want to make. 

2. ErgoChair Pro

The ErgoChair Pro is the perfect companion for the SmartDesk 2 (Standard) and is going to help your kid get the back support that they need even when they are sitting down. 

The chair is designed with a flexible lumbar support system that shapes the individual's back shape, so you know you're getting real back support and not some one size fits all subpar system. 

Almost everything on the ergonomic chair is adjustable, and it comes with a heavily padded cushion for comfort, as well as a breathable backrest that is going to stop your kid from getting stuffy during those warm summer days. 

The chair has been designed and manufactured by an expert team and is designed to offer only the highest level of back and posture support. There isn't a chair out there that is going to help your child's back more than this one. 

If you need an ergonomic kid's school desk and chair, then these two are by far the best option you have available to you. 

Ergonomic Study Desk FAQs

• Do the chair and desk come assembled?

No, neither the ErgoChair nor the SmartDesk is assembled when shipped out to you. However, putting them together yourself is extremely easy, and all the tools you need are included in your package. 

• Is there any other kind of desk aside from the SmartDesk?

Of course, if you're looking for a corner desk with a bit more room, there is the L-Shaped SmartDesk. This desk has a lot more surface area to work with and fits nicely into the corner of any study room.

• Is there a trial policy for an ergonomic study desk?

Yes, there is. All Autonomous products come with a 30-day trial for you to test them out. If you're unhappy with the quality of the items, you can return them to us for a full refund. 

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, we've helped highlight the advantages of getting your kid an ergonomic study desk. You are doing them a massive favor in the long run and helping to keep their back from undergoing serious damage. 

You are sowing the seeds to combat an issue that is only going to grow as they do, which is hopefully going to give them the knowledge required to solve the issue themselves. 

If you're looking for any more reading material related to your kids and a standing ergonomic desk, we have posted on why your child should be using one, as well as a closer look at the posture that they should adopt.