With everything we know now about how sitting all day is really detrimental, any ergonomic office needs to start with a standing desk. We're fans of the type of standing desk that is fully adjustable from sit to stand, but for the budget conscious, a topper can work. But if you can swallow the relatively modest investment in your health and productivity, the ability to easily raise and lower your whole desk between preset heights is fantastic.

You know what you call a standing desk that you spend most of your time sitting at? A big waste of money. So it's important that you actually use your desk for standing - and that you get the true health benefit of standing desks: movement! Fortunately, a good mat will just about guarantee that you use your desk enough. And a GREAT mat will ensure that you get the true movement benefits too. The standing desk mat is the one place that we feel most strongly about our Perfect Pick. This is not the right area to cut corners to save money.

Moving a lot and switching positions regularly is the best way to stay healthy at work. But there are many common positions that there is no reason to ever occupy, and one of those is sitting in a conventional chair. These leaning stools (or Active Seating) keep your hip angle more open, your core more active, and your calves engaged. Because the healthiest way to sit is really to lean. You're still taking a load off - just not the whole load.

More and more, people are using laptops as their primary computers. If that's you, you'll definitely need an external keyboard and mouse because laptop ergonomics are AWFUL. In a keyboard, you're looking for a few things. First, you want a split keyboard so that your wrists can take a more natural position (try putting your hands in front of you at waist height with your thumbs touching - pretty uncomfortable right?). Second, you want the front edge of the keyboard to be higher than the back (called a negative angle) because it prevents carpal tunnel and improves your shoulder health. It's a commonly repeated myth that you want your elbows at 90 degrees - you'll be much healthier and happier with the keyboard tilting away from you.

The goal of a good ergonomic mouse is to get your shoulder into a healthier, externally-rotated position (think of the position your shoulder is in when you use a steering wheel - that's what we're shooting for). Fortunately, there's an impressive crop of vertical, or "handshake", mice on the market now.

If you don't get your monitor(s) up higher than the desktop surface, your neck will be hurting in no time, because you'll constantly be craning to look down. Ideally, you want your eyes level with the top of the monitor(s), or even a few inches below. A monitor arm is a great way to get an auxiliary monitor up in the air, but for your laptop, you'll need a stand.

Extra productivity is a blessing. Extra neck pain is not. Ideally, you want your eyes level with the top of the monitor(s), or even a few inches below. If you switch between sitting and standing regularly, the adjustability of a monitor arm will more than pay for the arm itself.

Once you get an external keyboard to free yourself from the chains of terrible laptop ergonomics, you don't need an external monitor. But running two monitors simultaneously is good ergonomics too, because it allows you to be more productive. Make sure you get a monitor with mounting holes on the back, in case you decide to get a monitor arm at some point (our picks all have mounting holes).