I play PC video games standing up, and you must too

By nearly any metric, I’m a decidedly common gamer. I may be good at constructing gaming PCs, however throw me into a contemporary aggressive sport and I’ll cool down in the midst of the pack, with a really unremarkable kill-to-death ratio. One factor I very a lot do in another way than anybody else I do know, although, is that I play my video games standing up.

And I believe you must too.

Don’t let this 5’5″ journo look down on you from a standing desk and foam-topped rocker. Be part of me. Taking part in PC video games standing up is nice.

Saving spines and bouncing infants

As a full-time author and devoted nerd, I may simply spend 99% of my work and leisure time sitting down. Whether or not I’m typing, watching, taking part in, studying, portray, or tabletop roleplaying, sitting is the default place for all of it, so unsurprisingly, I encountered my first grownup mini-boss in my early 20s after I ran headfirst into continual again points.

Switching to a standing desk helped with that — immensely — as numerous research have proven it ought to. What started as a stack of packing containers piled haphazardly on a round desk I purloined from a long-shuttered café ended up because the far more indulgent Uplift V2. Whether or not I used to be utilizing a jerry-rigged standing resolution, or the nuanced and quiet motor-driven adjustable desk I’ve as we speak, the advantages I loved from switching my play time to standing as an alternative of sitting have been dramatic.

My posture has improved, I’ve stayed fitter and more healthy, and I’ve dodged a number of the extra unsavory well being points which have plagued my equally aged and extra sedentary colleagues. It even helped my psychological well being shortly after the beginning of my daughter by letting my sleep-deprived thoughts drift off into the expansive wilderness of Valheim whereas I bounced her to sleep in a service.

It meant I may spend time with my spouse too. Early in 2021, we have been unable to go away our residence outdoors of a quick canine stroll on account of pandemic lockdown measures, and with a sleeping new child, we have been passing ships within the wind. However with a standing desk that permit me sport whereas I stored my daughter from lacking sleep — at the least one in every of us was getting what we wanted — my spouse and I obtained to construct the longhouse of our goals and plan our subsequent assault on Bonemass.

She talked, I typed, and most significantly, our daughter slept whereas we spent some high quality time collectively; albeit nearly from a number of rooms away. It was heavenly and solely attainable as a result of I used to be standing whereas gaming.

Sport room ergonomics

Well being- and marriage-maintaining advantages apart, although, taking part in your video games standing up also can enhance the bodily structure of your sport room. When you most likely would — and doubtless ought to — benefit from an adjustable desk to play whereas each sitting and standing, at the least to start out with, having your desk at near-chest top opens up a whole lot of room beneath for different issues.

Often have your PC in your desk? Stick it beneath there and luxuriate in lowered noise ranges by placing a number of ft and a hunk of wooden between you and the whirring followers — simply make sure the cables are lengthy sufficient to achieve when the desk is at each sit and stand heights.

In the event you can depart your desk standing as a extra everlasting resolution, you may even stick entire different items of furnishings beneath it. Smaller desks and chests of drawers make nice stands for unwieldy printers and scanners, or should you don’t have any small fingers that’d seize at it, it’s not a nasty place to retailer your VR headset and equipment both.

It’s harmful to go alone

The issue with switching from sitting for lengthy intervals to standing for lengthy intervals is that it’s tiring. It takes a very good few weeks and even months to regulate to the additional load it locations in your physique, and I’ve gone by a number of painful levels as my ft, calves, and decrease again obtained used to the brand new work they needed to do whereas I performed. I’ve employed each rubber mats and a foam-coated rocker to ease the stress on my ft, and I’ll often throw on a pair of the deeply retro Vibram FiveFingers footwear if I would like a bit additional assist sidestepping plantar fasciitis.

I used to be additionally compelled by my very own eccentricities to conduct a extreme cable-tidying routine. One of many downsides to a standing desk is that any spaghetti of wiring you could have hiding beneath it turns into clear for all to see when you elevate up the obfuscating desk. I’ve employed cable tidies, cable runners, and even a bit duct tape to maintain my wiring out of sight and out of thoughts.

I did have one panicked adjustment when my webcam cable proved too brief and practically ripped aside my desktop’s I/O, nevertheless it all labored out ultimately.

Severely, double-check your cable lengths at all heights.

Stand -up gaming doesn’t should be for all times

You don’t should be a stand-up gamer to profit from standing up whereas gaming. In the event you’ve ever felt good having a stretch in the midst of a multihour gaming session, you may already think about the profit from switching from sitting to standing, only for an hour or so. It will get you up and shifting in ways in which you simply can’t whereas sitting, and that may don’t have any finish to advantages to your general bodily and psychological well-being.

It’s definitely helped mine. My daughter now not wants rocking to sleep as she as soon as did, however my stand-up gaming routine has held robust. I respect it’s a distinct segment obsession; It’s about as common as my beloved toe-shoes. But when even a number of of you give it a go, outing myself as that oddball who’s rocking back-and-forth whereas managing my Mount & Blade armies may have been properly price it.

Editors’ Suggestions