Sitting at the computer all day can pose some serious health risks. If you think that sitting doesn’t involve a lot of work think again. Although it requires less muscular effort, the muscles are required to hold the trunk, the neck and shoulders in a fixed position.

Here are 5 reasons why sitting at the computer can be a health risk and tips to help correct these problems.

1. Poor posture. Poor alignment of the head, neck, shoulder and back causes stress and pain which affects every part of your body from head to toe and it can have lasting health problems.

Support your back. The backrest should fit the natural curve of your lower back. Your feet should be planted firmly on the floor or comfortably on a footrest. Keep a comfortable shoulder and arm posture. Avoid slouching. Keep your wrists straight and avoid any up, down or side way movements.

2. Eye strain. Constantly staring at the monitor can cause dry or watery eyes, sore, burning or itchy eyes, blurred or double vision and headaches all contribute to eye strain. Although there is no long-term consequences, it’s rather unpleasant.

Take frequent breaks. Give your eyes a rest by focusing on something other than the monitor. You can also sit back and close your eyes for a few minutes or complete other tasks. Blinking lubricates the eye, so blink more often.

Place the monitor at least at arm’s length. Make sure the top of the screen is at eye level so you’re not straining to look up or down. Reduce unnecessary glare and check your lighting. The worst problems comes from overhead lighting or from behind. Dust on the monitor may contribute to glare and reflection problems. Lastly, adjust the contrast and brightness on the monitor that is comfortable for you.

3. Poor circulation. Prolonged sitting can cause fatigue in your limbs, painful leg cramps or blood clots. Get up and move around, go for a 30 minute walk, do some light exercises or stretches for your arms, shoulders, neck, back and legs. Take a few deep breaths by inhaling slowly through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.

4. Forgetting to eat. Many people forget to eat while working on the computer. I can see why. Time just flies. Don’t skip those important meals because they give you energy and will carry you out throughout the day. If you have a daily planner, make sure you schedule a lunch break away from the computer. Drink lots of water to keep yourself hydrated.

5. Eating too much. And some people can’t stop eating. It’s like watching TV and you need something to munch on. You end up eating a lot more than necessary and thus adding extra unwanted pounds to your waistline. Eat your meals away from the computer and if you snack, make sure it’s healthy foods — raw veggies, low-fat yogurt and fruits.

S McIntyre owns Work At Home Space, a free work at home resource offering telecommuting jobs, daily job leads, articles, business resources and other work at home related issues. You can also visit her blog Healthy Perspectives, featuring an array of health topics, nutrition, fitness and recipes for maintaining a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle.

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Sitting posture, seating position, or seat posture can make all the difference in comfort. For as long as I can remember, sitting straight up was considered the optimal position. Parents would preach it, doctors would suggest it when they tell you to sit up straight and not slouch. This just never made sense, because very few people really feel comfortable sitting straight up.

Recent studies show that the optimal sitting posture is not straight up (90 degrees) but actually leaning back at roughly a 120-135 degree angle. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, as this is arguably one of the most comfortable positions to sit. So, what are the mechanics for the “correct” sitting posture?

When strain is put on the spine, the spinal disks between each vertebrae will move or misalign in a minute way. This movement can be measured to determine what seating position causes the most stress on the spinal column. As it turns out, sitting at a 90 degree angle causes the most uniform stress on the spine. Slouching forward causes less stress on the upper spine, but more stress on the lower spine. The least amount of disk movement and stress on the spine was observed in a person who was leaning back at approx. 135 degrees or more.

The angle in the seating posture is important as to how my stress and natural force of gravity can be affected by the ergonomics in the way you sit. So, the next time someone corrects your sitting posture and asks you to “sit up straight” you can correct them and say “no, lay back at 135 degrees.”

Visiondecor products and blog was the resource and support for this ergonomic furniture article. More information can be found on things discussed in this article at dining room sets and bedroom sets category locations.

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It is a very common occurrence: You are sitting on a comfortable swivel chair working on your desktop computer or laptop. You are very focussed and concentrating deeply, and you have been sitting there for hours. When you finally raise yourself from the keyboard for a moment, you stretch heaven-wards, give a big sigh, and then rub your hands along the small of your back. You feel the dull ache right along your spine, and it is a familiar feeling. You’ve got a back pain and you have had it for a long time.

If you stopped to think about it for a moment, you would recognise an important fact about your seated posture that is contributing to your back ache. Whilst your comfortable, padded, computer chair has a large, ergonomically-shaped backrest, you hardly ever use it. When you are typing away intently on the computer, you tend to lean into the computer with your body is arched forwards.

To many people, it seems unnatural to lean backwards into the comfort of you chair when you are typing away at the keyboard. The position of the keyboard on the desk in relation to your seated position seems to require you to lean forwards. Many people who have recognised this problem and seek an appropriate ergonomic chair to ‘fix’ it ask for a chair that will maintain supportive contact with their back as they lean forwards into their computer.

Thankfully, such chairs are not commonplace. ‘Thankfully’, because such chairs would be supporting an unnatural posture rather than fixing it. The angle between the backrest of your computer chair and the seat of the chair should be 90 degrees or greater. It would be very unnatural and uncomfortable for your chair to constrict your body into an angle of less than 90 degrees.

So how then do you get your chair to support your back as you work on the computer or on paperwork at your desk? The answer is to use a chair that encourages you to sit up rather than lean forwards, and makes it comfortable for you to do so. You will find this feature in 3-lever computer operator chairs and 3-lever ergonomic computer chairs. On 3-lever chairs, one lever adjusts the seat height on the gas lift as usual; a second lever adjusts the recline angle of the backrest in relation to the seat, and the third lever adjusts the angle of the seat. The combination of the second and third levers provides you with a much wider range of options than you would get out of the second lever of a 2-lever chair. Because while you can use the second lever to recline the backrest backwards, you can use the third lever to tilt the seat forwards. The combination of the second and third levers will never reduce your seated angle below 90 degrees. Instead, by tilting the seat forwards, the 3rd lever encourages you to sit upright, and makes it more comfortable for you to do so. Therefore if you lock the backrest into the upright position (using the second lever) and tilt the seat forwards (using the third lever), you will find that you can sit upright, rest your back on the chair’s backrest, and type away at the computer without leaning forwards uncomfortably.

This should help you avoid (or at least reduce) those nasty back aches you get when you rouse yourself from hours of concentrated typing at the computer.

Bola Egunjobi is a director at Chellgrove Office Chairs - an Internet-base retailer and distributor of comfortable executive office chairs and ergonomic computer chairs in the UK.

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It is very exciting times when you are starting a new business. You ‘creating’ a new working environment - an office - at home or in dedicated premises. You are either putting a new team together (or working alone), and you are putting the final touches to your grande business case.

It is also a very hectic time.

The last thing you want to think about is something as ‘mundane’ as your office furniture, but that has to be dealt with too. Where to get the chair? Where to get the desk? You want to buy something quickly, without having to put too much thought into it. Does anyone sell executive office chairs with free next day delivery? (Of course you’ve left the decision to the last minute.) Buying your office chair on next-day delivery is okay if you are in a hurry. And there is a wide selection to choose from.

But if you want something more unique, such as your own choice of upholstery or leather colour, and armrests that can be folded away when not in use, then you may choose to wait the 2-3 weeks that it takes to have something custom-made. A special executive office chairs’ design service will allow you to specify these options and more, including the type of recline mechanism, the type of castors (for carpets or for wood floors), and even the 5-star base of your chair.

Whichever way you choose to buy your office seating, make sure that you consider your personal comfort first. Get a chair that suits your needs. You’ll take better care of business if your chair takes care of you.

Bola Egunjobi is a director at Chellgrove Office Chairs - an Internet-base retailer and distributor of comfortable executive office chairs and ergonomic computer chairs in the UK.

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About a year ago, something shifted in my consciousness and I became aware of how good I could feel if I concentrated on good posture. I remember the moment, standing in line at the grocery store. I was tired and felt a little run-down. I consciously straightened my spine, rolled my shoulders back, stretched my neck a little, and then relaxed in my new, “chin-up” position. I felt better immediately, and I’d like to ask you to do the same right now, and then return to reading this article.

Feel better? As it turns out, Edgar Cayce would have predicted that you would. And so would Dr. Harold J. Reilly, author of The Edgar Cayce Handbook for Health Through Drugless Therapy. Many people asked Cayce about their posture, and he also brought it up independent of questioning. Imagine if he were giving readings today, in a world that is so much more sedentary in nature than his and Reilly’s time? What would be Cayce’s message about posture, and what would it be to you today?

Cayce’s Three-Point Posture Plan

Researching Cayce’s readings and referencing Harold Reilly’s work, I have concluded that Cayce would make three suggestions to all of us regarding our posture. (1) Be conscious of standing and sitting with good posture. (2) Exercise in the morning and evening. (3) Get spinal adjustments and massages regularly.

The Mind-Body Connection

It’s interesting that two of the readings I found that were particularly direct to the “posture point” were on parents asking the sleeping Cayce about their daughters’ posture.

“(Q) What should be done to improve her posture?

“(A) Only her own mental attitude, and her own activity. Of course, to remove the pressures in the cerebrospinal system will assist, but there must be thought taken by the body.” (308-4)

Above, Cayce is suggesting adjustments - physically and mentally! In this next reading he addresses a similar, but more complex situation.

“(Q) She is sorely inclined to sit and sometimes stand in bad posture. What is best way to correct this?

“(A) Quit the correcting, but demonstrate in rather the pointing to others but not holding it a fault in the body; but pointing to those whom the body considers as ensamples, or those it would like to be like! But do not continue to call attention to the fault! This creates in the mind of the body resentments, and will build conditions that will be hard to overcome.

“But with the massages and with the gentle correction - but positive - these will be changed.” (608-10)

Although given for young people, Cayce’s message about posture is clear. Thoughts are things, and you can use the power of your mind to improve posture - through awareness and intent. Secondly, a body therapy that corrects and relaxes the body’s structural elements is a vital element as well.

Exercise

But what about exercise? Many of the readings that include advice regarding posture also give advice to the individual (adults and children alike) to exercise. Walking is suggested (in the outdoors, if possible). But Cayce’s famous morning and evening exercise suggestion surfaces in one reading where posture is an issue, the individual being told that she “should be more erect in carriage”:

“. . . the evening exercises for the blood fl ow away from head, and of mornings with the upper portion of body. Swinging, circular motion then of lower portion of body in evenings, and the circular motion of hands and upper portion of body of mornings, taking rub-downs of cold water on the spine after each exercise.” (288-11)

Anne Hunt is a regular contributor to the Association for Research and Enlightenment, founded by Edgar Cayce in 1931 for the promotion of holistic health and studies of ancient civilizations, reincarnation, and personal spirituality.

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While eating a healthy diet is essential when it comes to living a healthier lifestyle just as important when it comes to keeping fit is to take regular exercise. Exercise strengthens muscles, keeps the body toned and the blood flowing healthily around the body while a good well balanced diet helps you to keep trim and wards off illness. Combining the two together is the only way to lose weight, keep it off and live a healthier lifestyle.

When it comes to exercising one of the best all-round forms of exercise that you can do and which does not cost anything is walking. Walking has been known to decrease the risk of heart attack, stroke and to lower the blood pressure. It is also a great way of keeping fit and strengthening the muscles of the legs and is a great way of boosting the immune system and easing stress. If you take a brisk 30 minute walk everyday then it will help you to lose weight by burning up calories at the rate of around 200 per 30 minutes. If you can only walk at a slow to moderate pace you can still benefit by losing around 100 calories and of course still have all the benefits it brings to your health.

When it comes to a well balanced diet then you do not have to cut out everything you love. Simply eat with common sense and gradually introduce foods that are healthier for you into your diet. A well balanced diet should include plenty of fresh fruit and veg of different kinds and should also include starchy foods such as pasta, rice and wholegrain bread. There are also foods that you should try to cut out or at least cut down on. Foods to be avoided or limited include salt, sugar and fat.

Getting the correct nutrition is essential to any successful diet and exercise plan and fruit, veg and starchy foods will provide you with all the necessary nutrients needed. Starchy foods should be around a third of your daily diet and just as important is eating different types of starchy foods. They are an excellent way of getting the energy that your body needs and of also getting fibre, calcium, iron and Vitamin B which are all essential for a well balanced diet.

Just as important in a diet and exercise plan is to include fibre in your diet. It is important to vary the types of food you eat that contain fibre. Oats, beans, lentils, seeds and seeds are all excellent sources of fibre. Soluble fibre is needed to keep the amount of cholesterol down and insoluble fibre keeps the digestive system in good working order.

It is only by combining both diet and exercise in a regular plan that you can turn your life around and be fitter and healthier. Making a well balanced diet a part of your life is the only way to be fitter, lose weight, and be successful when it comes to keeping it off.

Jason Hulott is Director at UK Diets Online, a service that provides information about all the major diet systems available, healthy eating and diet information. Visit now and take advantage of our special deals with Weightwatchers.

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If you want a more productive workforce and freedom from unnecessary medical and insurance expenses, then the answer is ‘Yes’. You will find ergonomics a worthwhile investment, with savings made in terms of decreased absenteeism, time wasted, medical costs and employee turnover. You can also look forward to a more motivated and creative workforce. You will be amazed by how simple improvements on the physical arrangement of your office can do wonders for your business.

So how should you get started with your ergonomics efforts?

Arrange desks and seats the proper way.

Computer users are most vulnerable to risks of acquiring cumulative trauma injuries (work related upper limbs disorder). One best way to prevent this is by paying attention to your employees’ desk and seat arrangements. You can start by keeping the monitors at the employees’ eye level. The desks should be conducive to this kind of arrangement. This will keep the employees’ heads over their shoulders, a good position for avoiding strain on the neck, back and shoulder.

Also, you must provide chairs that give the lower back the support that it needs. Chairs must be just the right height so that the employees’ feet reach the floor. This is important for providing support to the body’s overall weight.

Position keyboards the right way.

You should position keyboards in a manner that allows employees’ wrists to remain straight as they spend long hours working at the computer. As shown by research, bending the wrists too much when doing repetitive tasks increases pressure in the carpal tunnel, causing serious injuries.

Do not allow stress to set in.

How do you manage stress? It’s simple-take a break. Instruct your employees to leave the computer for fifteen minutes after two hours of work. They should also take little breaks within the hour. Allow them to get up, stretch their limbs for a bit or simply take the time to close their eyes and relax.

Allow them to take hold of the reigns.

A work environment that encourages employees to take control tends to be more stress free. You should encourage employees to speak up and to voice out their opinions and ideas. Also, you should encourage camaraderie among employees.

Cultivate a healthy lifestyle among the employees.

The best way to stay productive and free from injury remains the same-staying healthy! Remind your employees of how they should eat well, get enough sleep and live a well-balanced life. Encourage them not to skip breakfast and to take vitamins. Remind them that taking care of their own selves will not only help them with their jobs, it will also help them stay young and look attractive.

Many benefits await you with your ergonomics efforts. It may actually be a more worthwhile project than costly software and technological innovations. And what’s great about it is that you don’t have to shell out big bucks for great returns.

As you can see, it’s not a hot trend for nothing.

The author, Jason Cheney, is a small business entrepreneur with a keen interest in furniture and the Amish.

Visit http://www.online-office-furniture.com to see, and find out more about ergonomic office furniture.

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We have become a nation of professional sitters. Next time you are in an office building, look around at all the people sitting behind computers. Chances are, you’ll see a full array of really bad posture positions: necks craning forward, slumping upper backs, rounded shoulders.

Sitting for a long time is a major cause of back discomfort: it puts continuous pressure on the muscles and discs of the lower back. You may think your back muscles get a rest when you sit. Actually, they’re working very hard to hold you upright.

Sitting puts 40 percent more pressure on the lower back disks than standing does.

Sitting is particularly hard on the lower back, especially if you sit with your lower back rounded out (called forward flexion). Make sure you sit with your pelvis in neutral where the top of the pelvic bones (iliac crests) should line up with the pubic bones. This is much less stressful for your lower back. Leaning over a desk and looking up and down from a keyboard to a computer screen puts pressure on the neck and upper back, too. By stopping the slouch, supporting your back properly, and avoiding the head-forward position, you will be able to work more comfortably and productively.

Replacing or modifying your office furniture is a good start. Fortunately, more manufacturers are producing furniture and accessories with good posture in mind. Ergonomically designed furniture can help reduce the user’s fatigue and discomfort, and help increase productivity. Keep in mind that a piece of furniture is ergonomically correct for you only if it fits your particular body.

In any case, furniture alone can’t help your posture. You also have to become more aware of how you sit, and you need to take little breaks during the day.

Janice Novak, M.S., author of Posture, Get It Straight! book and companion DVD have been featured on the Oprah Winfrey show. Ms. Novak demonstrated to Oprah’s audience how her One Minute To Better Posture technique could have them standing straighter instantly! Janice Novak is considered this country’s premier posture expert. She is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker and wellness consultant. Her unique posture program has helped thousands of people look and feel better. To learn more or to order a copy of Posture, Get It Straight! book &/or companion exercise DVD, go to http://www.ImproveYourPosture.com
To subscribe to Janice’s free Health Newsletter, send a blank email to: Janice@ImproveYourPosture.com

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Ergonomics is a huge field potentially incorporating many sciences, a huge number of processes, and nearly every tool and object used by humans. The basis idea is simple, although biotechnologists might have you believe otherwise. Ergonomics is simply the application of science to the tools we use and the systems within which we work. The goals are the same across the board: to make our physical environment more comfortable and less stressful on the body, to improve efficiency, and to produce a high level of quality.

While ergonomics seems like a recent buzzword, the concept is anything but-there is evidence that the Greeks were working on streamlining their work spaces as early as the 5^th century BC. The word itself first appeared in the mid-19^th century and was applied to certain jobs such as coal mining and bricklaying in order to find what tools allowed a job to be done quickly and most productively, and to determine which steps of a task might possibly be eliminated or rearranged.

Today, we are more likely to hear the word applied to office spaces, as so many humans have been relegated to that type of environment. There have been many studies done to determine the proper angle at which your hands should align when typing on a computer keyboard, the best height for the armrests, and how to sit to avoid back and neck strain. A lot of it is common sense, but it has resulted in some pretty cool office chairs and work stations!

If you spend a lot of time at home or at work planted in front of a computer, an ergonomic office chair is an investment you might wish to consider. Whether you realize it or not, a chair that is wrong for your body can be causing you fatigue and putting undue stress on your back, neck, and circulatory system. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that you have more energy, feel better, and are more productive in the long run.

F. Toulouse
http://www.relaxtheback.com/humanscale-freedom-task-chair-product-63

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When it comes to buying furniture for your office, you would never compromise on quality, would you? Office furniture must be selected with utmost care. Long working hours in your office might make you tired by the end of the day. When you come back home after work, you are required to spend time with your family members. That is why it is important to buy ergonomic versions of office furniture.

There are basically two types of office furniture: pre-assembled office furniture and unassembled office furniture. The former type of furniture does not require any sort of assembly; you just need to put it at the desired place in your office. However, the latter (read unassembled furniture) needs to be assembled before you can use it.

Before purchasing office furniture, it is also important to confirm with the seller that the furniture is covered under the manufacturer’s warranty. What are the different types of executive office furniture? Office desk chairs, sectional sofas, conference tables and chairs, custom leather chairs, computer chairs, high-back office chairs and designer lounge chairs are some of the popular office furniture.

Mostly used in business organizations, executive office chairs add to the business atmosphere of corporate offices. Conference rooms as well as the waiting areas of the CEO’s and managers of business organizations are incomplete without executive office chairs. Office chairs must not only be comfortable; they should also present a professional image

Computers have become an integral part of every business organization today. The chairs which we generally use at our homes are of little or no use for a business enterprise. Professionals working on computers need comfortable chairs which can support their back. This is the reason why computer chairs have become so popular everywhere in the world.

Leather and fine wood are generally used for making high quality executive office chairs. Moreover, such chairs also have various adjustment mechanisms. What are task chairs? An office chair that swivels and has casters on the bottom is known as a task chair. The Internet abounds in online furniture shops which specifically deal in high quality executive office chairs

Working long hours in the office can wear you out by the end of a day, and even after that you have family obligations to attend to. This highlights the importance of buying only ergonomic versions of the best office furniture. Being absolutely certain that the product is covered by a manufacturer’s warranty is extremely important. So what are a few differing types of executive office furniture? You can find office desk chairs, sectional sofas, large conference tables, task chairs, custom leather chair designs, computer chairs, high-backed officer chairs, executive office chairs, and specialty designer lunge chairs are among the varieties of office furniture available.

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