In the past few months, millions of us have made the switch to working from home, and we may be still feeling the adjustment pains. After all, not everyone’s home is set up to accommodate the Ergonomic and Comfort design of the office, and your legs, your back, and your neck may be ailing from the daily grind.
Occasionally autoimmune flares can hold you back from executing simple things. For those who are not able to get down onto the floor, and/or experiencing joint pain chair yoga is a phenomenal way to ease yourself into a yoga practice.
Explore the following best practices to make your time working from home as comfortable and easy on your body as possible.
1. Quit hunching!
Utilising a laptop for work, you may find yourself hunching over a desk, arching your shoulders and dangling your head over the keyboard. This is a recipe for disaster from an ergonomic and comfort standpoint, as excessive slouching can lead to back, shoulder, and neck strain.
Most important positioning for Ergonomic and Comfort design is to have the top of your computer screen to be at eye-level when you sit up straight. Here are some easy fixes:
- Order a computer monitor, which are surprisingly cheap online.
- Equally important a laptop stand, which you can adjust to an ideal height. (If you’re using one of these, you’ll probably need a separate keyboard and mouse as well).
- Balance your laptop on top of a stack of books, so that it meets eye-level.
2. Work at the proper height
Your elbows should ideally meet your desk at a 90-degree angle, so if you have an adjustable chair, make sure you’ve lifted it to the proper height to allow this alignment.
Be careful, though. In the event your seat is too high, your legs may dangle over the side, which could make your legs numb or hurt your back. If this happens, use a step stool or a stack of books to prop-up your feet.
In the circumstance that your chair is not adjustable, consider sitting on a pillow to put yourself in the proper position.
3. Alternate between sitting and standing
Consequently spending too much time in one position can pose risks to your health, impeding blood-flow and making your muscles tense. Be sure you get up from your seat and walk around every half hour or so to mitigate risks such as thrombosis in your legs.
What’s more some opt for the “standing desk,” which allows you to work on your feet. But too much time standing can also depress your physical wellness, with one recent study suggesting that prolonged standing leads to cardiovascular disease.
However, the key is to get a healthy mix of sitting and standing. Whatever your main work position is, mix it up every so often to give your body some much-needed movement.
4. Practice the 20-20-20 rule
Seeing that most at-home workers spend the day staring at a computer or phone screen, beaming detrimental blue light directly into their eyes.
But excessive exposure to blue light can lead to sleeping difficulty and damaged eye cells, not to mention a blurriness that can linger long after the working day is done.
The 20-20-20 rule says that for every 20 minutes you spend staring at a screen, you should stare at something 20 feet in the distance for 20 seconds, giving your eyes enough time to relax from the blue light strain. This tool will help remind you to take your eye break every 20 minutes.
If you are really concerned about your long hours of staring at a screen, consider buying a pair of blue light glasses, which help soften the glare and inhibit some of the more severe consequences of blue light.
5. Make yourself comfortable
If you feel more productive while leaning back in a chair, go ahead and lean. Dress so that you are comfortable. Don’t be so concerned about recreating your old workplace inside your own house. Instead, think about what will make you most comfortable and productive in your solitary space.
Chair Yoga Poses For Ergonomic and Comfort When Working at Home
Chair yoga is fabulous and available to all and is a wonderful support if you have mobility, balance, joint pain and low energy difficulties.
A practice that I have enjoyed sharing in residential homes and to a local Parkinson group and it is extremely helpful in the last trimester of pregnancy also if you are looking to start and ease yourself into a yoga practice.
The following poses can be practised using a high back chair ~
- Mountain Pose – To stretch and open your body
- Cat Stretch – To stretch your back and open your chest
- Twist – To release tension of your lower back
- Forward Bend – Lengthen spine, calm your mind, massages the organs at the front of the body
- Thigh Stretch – Lengthen your thighs
- Pigeon Pose – Opens your hips and stretch the glutes
Click here to Download PDF for the above chair poses.
With this in mind to support your self-care and well-being
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