How To Look After Your Body Mechanics When Working From Home
Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, it’s become quite clear just how terrible we can be at looking after ourselves. Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar: you’re hunched over your desk in front of your laptop, your arms awkwardly pinned, your back aching...
Or maybe this is the scenario for you: lying back with your feet up, your keyboard (or even laptop) perched uncomfortably on your torso, your neck cranked forward. You know things aren’t right, but you’re just so tired.
It’s a vicious cycle. You slump because you’re weary and feel awful, and that makes you feel worse, pushing you to slump even more. You need to take action to improve how you look after your body mechanics. Here are some tips for working (and living) in a way that respects your body mechanics.
Commit strongly to general self-care
Above everything else, you need to think about your diet, sleep schedule, and mental health, because these things will markedly affect how you feel physically. If you don’t get adequate nutrition or rest, for instance, you’ll take significantly longer to heal from minor strains: this can cause some trivial issues to compound into serious discomfort.
And if you can’t stay mentally healthy, you’ll struggle to maintain good habits. It’s perfectly possible to have all the right tactics lined up (including those in this piece) but lack the will to action them. When someone is in that position, it’s most likely because there are unresolved issues in their life that need to be addressed.
What’s holding you back from achieving your goals in the coming months and years? If you can set your eyes on an achievable objective and start working towards it, the time spent working from home won’t blur together as profoundly — and you can stay motivated.
Optimize your computer desk layout
It’s become very common for people to have complicated computer setups, particularly when they’re working from home, and this can cause a surprising amount of wear and tear.
They can need to reach to plug and unplug cables, leaning behind things in awkward positions. They can have monitors reflecting too much glare, causing eye strain. And then there are the simple stresses of sitting in the same spot all day, with no commutes to break things up.
The smart way to arrange a computer desk is to minimize the clutter. The ideal arrangement affords great productivity potential with minimal cabling. Imagine the kind of freelancer setup you’d see in a modern stock image: a powerful laptop with a handful of cables neatly tucked away (routed through a docking station so everything can rely on one or two main cables).
With that kind of arrangement, you can work at your desk or grab your laptop and work outside for a while. You can also draw upon strong ergonomic peripherals (keyboards and mice, primarily) without needing any jarring stretches.
Operating this way is so much easier and more comfortable than using a classic desktop machine. Humans just aren’t physically suited to remaining static most of the time. If you can afford it, consider getting a convertible standing desk. That way you can keep working from the same area without worsening the condition of your back and spine.
Get a chair with lumbar support
The ergonomic peripherals we just touched upon are built to suit the muscular system. A vertical mouse, for instance, puts much less strain on the wrist (which doesn’t naturally twist to allow the palm to face down — not for long periods, at least). And using a split keyboard allows your wrists to tilt outward and your shoulders to remain in more comfortable positions.
But more important than protecting your wrists is protecting your back, because it affects every part of your daily life. If you consistently lean too far forward or too far back (or simply position your spine incorrectly), then you can cause serious backache that will stay with you for years.
Posture is immensely important, and having a chair that doesn’t support your back will make it incredibly difficult to maintain good posture. This is why you should look out for chairs with great lumbar support. Forget about flashy office chairs with plush seating: keep an eye out for the seats with great support for the middle of the back.
Consider the natural curvature of the spine. A flat back will cause problems, but so will an exaggerated or warped curve. And remember that switching to an ergonomic chair will cause short-term discomfort if you’re used to something else. It’s a sacrifice worth making, so give it a couple of weeks before you even think about going back.
Start using a suitable form of yoga
If you’ve never tried yoga, this is the perfect time to start, because it’s the perfect form of exercise and mobility management for the COVID-19 era.
It’s low-impact, meaning it’s viable for people with joint issues. It’s adaptable, so you can try it no matter what space you have available. It’s often relaxing, but it can be intense if you want it to be: yoga with dynamic tension and a lot of movement can really get your heart racing.
The reason I talk about a suitable form of yoga is that there are so many versions out there. It isn’t just one system that may or may not work for you. If you have any notable health conditions or factors that might be significant, you can easily look up some viable yoga types. Yoga for older people, yoga for people with chronic illness, yoga for arthritis sufferers: it’s all possible.
If you get your home office set up as well as you can, switch to ergonomic devices wherever possible, and take up some form of yoga (taking plenty of breaks to facilitate the sessions), then you should be able to address some bad habits and feel better.
