Computer ergonomics is one of those topics they don’t teach much about in school. The only time I learned about it was in college. And that’s only because I was an Information Technology major. It was a 101 intro class about basic computer knowledge. We covered ergonomics for about 2 days. That was it.
As athletes, how many times has a trainer explained how to do a squat correctly? Or how to improve our bench press, so we can push 10 more pounds?
How many times has a coach taught us how to shoot a basketball? Or throw a baseball?
Sitting at a computer may not be a sport, but it is an endurance event. It’s very different from a marathon, which is high-impact and high-intensity. Sitting at a computer is a low-intensity, long-duration event that can cause repetitive strain and overuse injuries. These computer-related injuries can cause chronic pain, muscle tension, and joint dysfunction.
Posture is the position we hold our bodies at a computer. Ergonomics is the study of our efficiency at a computer. Posture is only one ergonomic variable. If you’d like to learn about computer posture tips, I wrote an article titled Computer Posture for Athletes.
The rest of this article won’t talk about posture, specifically. It will focus on the other ergonomic variables that are important for office workers who are athletes. These variables include sleep quality, hydration, breathing, and nutrition. Even though some of them don’t actually take place at our computer desk, they’re still an important part of my computer ergonomics practice.
This article is not professional medical advice. It’s based off my personal experience and opinions. For years, my poor computer posture caused muscle tension, inflammation, and chronic pain. Bad posture also decreased my mental clarity, energy level, and work productivity.
All the desk worker health tips I write about are directly related to improving posture at a computer. We are our own primary caretakers. Do your research. Make good decisions. And be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare.
Computer Ergonomics for Athletes
I use a well-rounded computer ergonomics practice, in order to have optimal computer posture for peak performance. When I’m at my computer, I want my posture and ergonomics to prevent future injuries. This means computer-related injuries. But it also means injuries in the weight room or on the playing field.
For example, I sprained an ankle playing basketball before. But it wasn’t because I landed on someone else’s foot. It was a simple side-step I took on flat ground. I sprained my ankle because of my poor foot positioning when sitting at a computer. Instead of sitting with my feet flat on the floor (correctly), I used to pull my feet under my chair (due to stress). This caused me to rest my toes on the ground, but my heels were suspended in the air. This caused muscle imbalance and joint dysfunction in my lower legs. It took 3 ankle surgeries to correct this computer posture mistake.
With the exception of posture, here are my 4 most important computer ergonomics variables:
- sleep quality
- hydration
- breathing
- nutrition
Sleep quality
If we get poor sleep quality one night, we’ll get tired quicker the next day. The earlier in the day we get tired, the sooner our computer posture will suffer. With that said, sleep quality definitely affects our efficiency at a computer desk.
I’ve invested in multiple products that’ve helped improve my sleep quality. I’ve used inexpensive items like blackout curtains, grounding sheets, and mouth tape for sleeping. I’ve also purchased expensive products like a temperature-controlled mattress cover. If a product improves my sleep quality even a small percentage, I’m interested.
I’ve also worked a lot of zero-cost, healthy habits into my sleep routine. I try to maintain sleep consistency as far as time goes. I go to sleep every night at 9:30pm, which is 8 hours before I wake up at 5:30am. I turn my electronics off around 8pm. Because looking into a blue light definitely disrupts my sleep. And I only use red overhead lights in my home after the sun goes down. Red lights are much calmer for my eyes, especially compared to using white lights.
To learn more about these healthy sleep habits, check out the article I wrote titled Guide for Better Sleep.
Hydration
If we are dehydrated, our muscles tighten up quicker. The quicker our muscles tighten up, the sooner our computer posture suffers. I drink the amount of quality water that works for me. This amount changes from day to day. It depends on multiple variables. Some of them are physical activity level, outdoor temperature, and nutrition habits. Also, caffeine, alcohol, and sugar will affect our hydration levels. So I’m conscious of my intake of those.
I don’t drink tap water. There’s too many chemicals in it. I also avoid plastic bottled water. If it’s the only option, I’ll drink some. But I avoid it whenever possible. I’m almost always drinking water filtered by reverse osmosis. I bought a countertop water filtration unit. It has a remineralization option, which adds minerals back into my drinking water. Because reverse osmosis is great at filtering bacteria and chemicals out of tap water. However, it also filters out most of the healthy minerals. So I want to make sure I add them back into my drinking water after it’s filtered.
Check out my article titled Health Benefits of Proper Hydration to learn more reasons why hydration is an important variable for good computer ergonomics.
Breathing
I used to work sales jobs that were very high stress. The more stressed I was, the less I would breathe. I’d have shallow breathing all day. My lungs wouldn’t fill up with air at all.
I started my good computer posture journey in 2011. It was also then, that I realized I needed to improve my breathing. I needed to increase the amount of air I was taking into my lungs. And I needed to increase the amount of time air spent in my lungs.
To do this, I started doing breathing exercises. The first one I did is called box breathing. It was a really good beginner exercise for me at the time. I’d sit, or lay, somewhere comfortable.
To do box breathing, I would:
- breathe in for 4 seconds
- hold my breath for 4 seconds
- breathe out slowly for 4 seconds
- refrain from breathing for 4 seconds
- start over again and repeat
Once I was comfortable with 4 second intervals, I moved up to 5 seconds. Then, eventually 6 seconds. And so on.
To learn more about the breathing exercises that helped improve my computer posture, check out my article titled Improve Your Posture by Breathing More Effectively.
Nutrition
I used to eat fast food all the time. Even though I’d always get the “healthier” option, I had no idea how much fast food was affecting my health. The worse my health is, the lower my energy level. Working at a computer for 8 hours a day is an endurance event. The sooner I get tired, the sooner my computer posture suffers. That’s why I look at nutrition as one of the most important variables of computer ergonomics.
In late 2022, I stopped eating fast food altogether. I started cooking all my meals at home. I don’t sacrifice taste. Everything I cook tastes good to me. A lot of the food I cook is grass-fed, pasture-raised red meat. I also eat pasture-raised eggs, raw cheese, sweet potatoes, and avocados. I also eat an array of fruits and vegetables.
To learn more about the foods I eat, check out my article titled Foods That Promote Good Posture.
In the first few months of cooking my own foods, the amount of weight I lost really surprised me. I lost 45 pounds. I went from 235 pounds to 190 pounds. I didn’t change my physical training at all. I was still lifting weights, but I didn’t do any cardio. I wasn’t even trying to lose that much weight. I just wanted to feel better, recover quicker, and have more energy.
When I lost all that weight, I realized the unhealthy cooking oils in fast food had a lot to do with me weighing 235 pounds (before I stopped fast food). Instead of those cheap, unhealthy fast food oils, I was cooking with duck fat, beef tallow, or grass-fed butter. All of those are high in fat, but I still lost weight (compared to when I was eating the “healthier” options of fast food, which were cooked in unhealthy cooking oils).
To learn more about the healthy cooking substances I use, check out my article titled How to Cook Without Seed Oils.
THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST IN COMPUTER POSTURE.
If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps to reduce computer-related injuries by improving your posture. That’s something to be very proud of!
If you liked this article on computer ergonomics for athletes, check out my book titled 45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.
This book is a great supplement to the article you just read. It covers healthy ergonomic habits like posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing.
I wrote this book to be the resource I wish I had back in 2002, when I first started sitting at a computer for long periods of time.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen