Know your ergonomics
While ‘Work From Home’ (WFH) seems to be the new norm of the day, it comes with its own pros and cons. It takes quite some effort to set up an ideal workstation, which is on the lines of the office set up.
Proper care and attention is paid by organizations, while planning a dedicated workspace for employees, to ensure their comfort and well being. So it needs quite some investment of time and money to set up our work space at home.
It is one aspect to have a comfortable workspace and it is another aspect to maintain proper ergonomics to maintain a healthy work life. So, know your ergonomics.
Let us see a few pointers to understand the right ergonomics to work comfortably without any troubles and health issues in the long run.
- Maintain a straight sitting posture – it is extremely important to sit straight with the back getting complete support – especially when working for long hours.
- Always select a desk that is not optimum for your height. You should be able to comfortably place your elbows comfortably on the desk and not at a slant position.
- Keep moving or pacing around frequently while working. Do not get so engrossed that you forget taking a few strides now and then. This helps to improve blood circulation and reduce spine pain. Your focus on work also improves significantly.
- Ensure that the monitor is at a right distance when working. The monitor screen should be at the eye level. This is important to safeguard your vision and protect your eyes from stress. This also helps to avoid neck strain.
- Avoid staring at the screen for long hours as this could impact your vision in a negative way.
- Do make it a point to maintain a position balance which means switching between sitting and standing while working. This helps to improve focus and keep ourselves active.
- Select a chair which has the provision for height adjustability. Adjust the height in such a manner that your heels touch the floor when your feet are in front of the base of the chair.
- Never slouch in the chair or hunch forward with a rounded back. This could have a deterrent effect on your spain and develop chronic back pain too.
- Make it a point not to place the laptop on the lap while working.
- Bend the elbow at 90 degrees and do not rest your wrist or forearms on the mousing surface. Avoid holding the mouse with a firm grip as this could lead to Carpal Tunnel syndrome. It is quite irritating with tingling sensation, numbing and pain.
Some simple exercises can create a healthy working style and help you avoid quite a few health issues. Let us look at some such exercises:
- Neck Stretch – turn your head slowly to the right until you feel a stretch in the side of your neck and shoulder. Repeat the same on the left after 15-20 seconds.
- Head Turns – Turn your head slowly to one side and back to centre. Keep breathing normally and repeat the same on the other side.
- Shoulder Rolls – stand with your feet apart and Slowly rotate your shoulders forward, making big circles. Repeat the same in backward movement also.
- Eye Exercises – Look up and hold for a few seconds and then look down and hold for a few seconds. Look to the right and hold for a few seconds and look to the left again and hold for a few seconds. Rotate your eyeballs from right to left and left to right for a few seconds. And blink a lot as part of eye exercise.
Hope to see you benefit from this article and wishing that you maintain a healthy posture and eye sight while enjoying your work life.
Know your ergonomics
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