Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I built a lay-down desk

blog.luap.info

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

341–350 of 404 posts

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#341

Post by sriku »

andreareina wrote: post #25
zoba wrote: post #5

A friend once said “There’s all these studies about how bad sitting is for you. Now there are even studies about how bad standing desks are for you. Nobody ever says anything bad about laying down so I just try to do that as much as possible.” I still laugh. Perhaps true in part though.

IME it's not sitting or standing or lying down that's injurious, it's not moving . My pain to a large extent went away when I stopped staying so still. Now I change my posture on the regular, from leaning against the backrest to sitting away from it to taking little breaks to pace around a bit. Similarly, I used to get eye strain from all the screen time. Until I moved to an office with a view and I found myself star…

The body is complex. Try not to box its functioning into simplistic principles like "it's not moving". Zen practice, for example, involves sitting as still as you can for 25 mins at a stretch, followed by a meditation walk for a few minutes and then resuming. A retreat (called "sesshin") will typically involve such sitting for about 8-9 hours a day, for 4 days to a week. Monks have been doing this for a couple of millennia at the very least if you consider only Buddhism. In other traditions, monks may sit continuously for far longer than the 25 mins characteristic of current traditions. No longitudinal study of postures can top that record.

The sitting posture matters because the spine is kept erect naturally, like a vertical pendulum. Once you get used to it, it is a pretty relaxed posture that feels quite sustainable .. compared to sitting in any chair.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#342

Post by hamburglar »

polote wrote: post #235
monksy wrote: post #136

Am I the only one that saw this and got very concerned about the structure? That's a lot of weight and hinges in this system. It looks like a guillotine for the stomach.

There is a space inside the desk board to let the body go, then both sides of the desk are resting on the chair so there is no force applied on my stomach. And contrary to what we can imagine, there is not much weight, the right part of the desk, which could fall on me if something breaks is about 40kg. Thats the advantage of wood, it is very light

FYI, I had an extremely comfortable semi-reclined desk made with a poang chair once, and you'll want to know that after 6 months of full time use, the lumbar support eventually gives out on the back cushion and it becomes your worst nightmare. Either reinforce it or prepare to replace it regularly.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#343

Post by fireattack »

0_____0 wrote: post #334
fireattack wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I probably missed a joke here.. why does this have anything with law to begin with?

You did but it's ok.

Ah, I think I get it now.

The "local police may harass you anyway" part threw me off as I thought that's a reference to something actually happened.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#344

Post by randycupertino »

programmertote wrote: post #70
linsomniac wrote: post #60

I tried this ~15 years ago, based around a Novus Zero Gravity Recliner. At the time I had been having a decade of upper back pain that just wouldn't go away. At one point it was so bad I could hardly get out of bed. At that point I went to an osteopath, on the recommendation of a physician friend of mine, and he gave me some isometric exercises for my neck, and the pain was instantly gone. I'm not kidding, if he'd do…

If you don't mind taking a picture of that set-up, I'd like to see it. If you don't feel comfortable, I'd understand as well. :) I have back-pain and have been looking for a (cheaper/affordable) way to have a lounging work set-up like that for two years now. Every decent option I see would cost me ~$5000 and I cannot afford that right now. Thank you.

You might like this "pillow pal" which I use on long flights. It's three inflatable pillows and they attach in various shapes with velcro. What is so ingenius about it is you can blow them up inside the space you need for arm or foot support- they're great for long haul flights but I also recently dug them out of my travel bag and used them as a footrest and arm rest for when I am working on the couch.

https://www.amazon.com/Flypal-Inflatable-Blow-Up-Cushion-Fli...

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#345

Post by AngryData »

octoberfranklin wrote: post #310
scottlamb wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate this attitude that apartment dwellers shouldn't be able to live their lives. I regret that I went along and never played my flute while I lived in an apartment for many years. I think we should either be expecting some neighbor noise (during reasonable hours) or demanding that landlords soundproof thoroughly.

People like you are why I don't live in cities anymore. Seriously, everytime there is some kind of pro-urbanist post here on HN, I think to myself "sure, but noise". And people who don't value peace and quiet.

That seems like a problem of poorly constructed/soundproofed apartments than anything.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#346

Post by tomcooks »

I don't understand the nasty comments about safety, it's 3 monitors not a guillotine. Props to the author for tinkering (and doing it with limited resources) instead of buying something new.

To one's own decapitation in the search for freedom and comfort!

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#347

Post by AngryData »

xuhu wrote: post #51
msluyter wrote: post #32

In college I had some back problems, so I improvised (an incredibly unwise) lay-down desk by putting my monitor face down on two chairs and just lying with my face underneath it. This was a heavy CRT, not a modern LCD monitor. (Did I mention this being incredibly unwise...?)

I suspended a kindle over my bed on two 2-meter rails used for reinforcing wall edges. Best reading I did while recovering from leg injuries, but risky as you mentioned.

I just hang mine with a long string and adjustable friction knots for tilt. The downside is it can still spin but my non-ideal fix is to throw a heavier shoelace string off to the side and move it as needed.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#348

Post by numlock86 »

ponker wrote: post #331
walrus01 wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also I feel sorry for the noise and disturbance experienced by all of this person's neighbors, it looks like it was built in an apartment.

If you want quiet go live in the woods. Cities are for doing stuff. Doing stuff makes noise.

> Cities are for doing stuff.

Cities are just large human settlements with high density and a (mostly synthetic/mental) boundary defining it's area.

One of the many parts mostly any city has are residential areas. Noise is absolutely not desired there, even if you think it is. What you seem to be talking about are public, business and industrial areas for example. Demographic development has people living there, sure. But mostly because it's cheap because of the noise and other environmental issues.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#349

Post by fouc »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #277
skrebbel wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And damage does not scale linearly. This must be today's "most HN" comment.

When I think of a "most HN" comment, I think of one of four options: - Dismisses a new project that simplifies a task and makes it more approachable to non-technical folks (Like the famous Dropbox comment [0]) - Is extremely pedantic and serves only as a distraction from a discussion - Argues in favor of pure functional programming - Misses obvious sarcasm, even when the /s is included. [0] https://news.ycombinator.c…

The functional programming one could probably be generalized to "argues for switching to a programming language or programming paradigm when it doesn't even make sense for the particular context or HN thread topic".

There's always someone that's religious about their particular technical choices.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#350

Post by ponker »

numlock86 wrote: post #348
ponker wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want quiet go live in the woods. Cities are for doing stuff. Doing stuff makes noise.

> Cities are for doing stuff. Cities are just large human settlements with high density and a (mostly synthetic/mental) boundary defining it's area. One of the many parts mostly any city has are residential areas. Noise is absolutely not desired there, even if you think it is. What you seem to be talking about are public, business and industrial areas for example. Demographic development has people living there, sure…

Cities have always been cacophonous. Moving to a city and then asking your neighbors to be quiet is like moving next to a farm and then asking them to stop making smells. There is much more quiet real estate in America than noisy real estate — don’t go to New York City and then ask your neighbors to tread lightly after 8pm on weekends because your baby is sleeping.

Thankfully despite your opinion New York does a good job of putting these noise complainers in their place. Unless the noise is beyond the pale or at hours between 10pm and 7am, complainers are told to GTFO most of the time. Somehow the city still remains a highly sought after place to live, half of it because all the whiners who need silence for realigning their chakras have decamped to Hastings-on-Hudson.

Post reply on HN