Don't let back pain, or a sore bottom get in the way of your work. Your desk
or work area should be your home away from home since you will be sitting there
for a good part of your day. There are many things you can do to make it more interesting and
comfortable: decorate it with pictures, plants, pins, miniatures or other
accents that you enjoy. Soft music and good lighting also help, but one of the
most important things is to be comfortable where you work. If you find that
you are getting up from your desk too often for no reason, you should determine
if a non "cozy" work area is the cause. Your work environment should
provide you with everything you need at your finger tips, ncluding the
mouse, keyboard, desk space, phone, and even your cup of coffee. Your chair
should be so comfortable that you can sit for long periods at a time without
pain or tension. When you do get up you should feel as if you are still refreshed
and not sighing in relief..You can achieve your goals by putting in long hours
and with a with some discipline and a comfortable work environment anything
is possible. Please read on to see what you can do to avoid or relieve some
common problems.
1. Does your upper back or neck back hurt?
This is very common and you can even find that it is very chronic and flares
up under times of stressful work environments. You will notice this tension
on either side of the upper back right by the protruding bone at the top of your spinal
cord. you will notice it can also be numb to the touch. This pain is caused
by caused by sitting upright without leaning back and the body being tense.
This usually occurs if you are under pressure to get something done and your
body as a result becomes tense and you may sit up. Try to relax your body as
much as possible and sit back against your seat. make sure you are not looking
up too high at your monitor. This kind of tension can also
be caused by working in an environment that is too cool. You don't realize it
but your body is tensing up to try and stay warm, causing your body to be stressed.
2. Is you bottom numb or sore? Then get out of that wooden
chair and opt for a leather chair. This will alleviate the sore bottom. If not
a cushion will help. But if you sit too long in the same exact position, this
can also happen. To avoid this, shift your body a bit, even just slightly throughout
long sitting periods.
3. Does your lower back hurt?
If your back hurts, poor posture in the chair may be the cause. If you are slouching,
there is an undue gap that is present between your upper back and your rump,
that your lower back will have to support. This causes the stress on the lower
back. Sitting up straight will prevent this but we all know that it is very
common and more comfortable to slouch a bit. To fill in that space, an ergonomic
back pillow will do the trick. Soft and comfortable and providing support for
your lower back.
4. Are your legs numb from sitting on them?
Sometimes it is very tempting to fold our legs underneath. Very common and especially
for women, it just feels comfortable. But This is not good for your circulation
and joints. You will find that as you grow older, you cannot sustain this position
for too long as your find your legs will become numb from cut off blood flow
and extra clicks in the knees. To avoid this, you must look to a foot rest as
the solution. It is very comfortable to bring up your legs off the floor a bit
and as a result will improve your circulation.
5. Do your eyes feel strained. Talk to your boss about getting
an LCD monitor as opposed to the CRT type you have. LCD monitors do not rely
on refreshing the screen 70 times per second, instead, little crystals light up to make a picture. As a result, your eye does not have to process all of the
screen refreshes. Another thing you can do is dim the lights
in your room to reduce the glare and you can even reduce the brightness on the monitor
just a bit. The fewer things your eyes have to process, the better. LCD monitors
also give off less electro magnetic radiation and some studies have shown them
to be safer.
