When I was younger, I thought making a living from a computer was the way to go. And it still can be. The ability to make money from a computer is very valuable. But I had no idea how many increased health risks come along with a sedentary lifestyle.
Making a living with a computer doesn’t have to hurt. There are plenty of ways to improve computer posture, decrease pain, and prevent computer-related injuries.
Desk worker health tips. Photo by Kaspiic via Megapixl.
This article will cover 6 of my most valuable desk worker health tips. Keep in mind that I talk about my own personal experience, while living a computer desk worker lifestyle. These are not necessarily recommendations for everyone. They are simply how I corrected my poor computer posture, and ways I prevent computer-related pain in the future.
Posture is the position we hold our bodies in. Ergonomics is the study of people’s efficiency in the workplace. Posture is one variable of ergonomics. But it takes more than good posture to prevent computer-related injuries.
For example, if I have poor sleep quality, my computer posture will suffer quicker the next day. If I’m dehydrated at my computer desk, my muscles will tense up quicker. If my breathing is shallow due to stress, that will affect my posture negatively.
Computer ergonomics guide. Image by Reneshia via Megapixl.
This article will serve as a computer ergonomics guide. It will go over healthy habits of how to have good computer posture. It will also go over ergonomic variables like sleep quality, hydration, and breathing.
Laptops are designed to be incredibly convenient. They give us the ability to work remotely from anywhere in the world. But they are not designed to be ergonomic, not at all. There are major health risks possible if we do not practice healthy laptop posture habits.
What is the best posture for working on a laptop all day? Photo by Paulfourk via Megapixl.
An ergonomic laptop setup is critical to prevent computer-related pain. This article will contain frequently asked questions (and answers) that serve as a laptop ergonomics guide.
Most computer posture mistakes have easy fixes. Once we correct sitting posture at a desk, the hard part is consistently practicing these healthy habits.
Computer Posture Mistakes. Photo by Fizkes via Megapixl.
This article will talk about 5 painful computer posture mistakes I used to make. Then, it’ll talk about the 5 computer posture tips I used to fix these mistakes and prevent pain at a computer.
It sounds crazy to think we can get knee pain from sitting at a computer. It’s a common misconception that we aren’t using our leg muscles when we sit. However, that’s not true.
We definitely use our leg muscles when we sit, especially if we don’t have correct foot position at a computer. Incorrect foot position causes us to activate more of our leg muscles. We want to minimize muscle activation in the legs when sitting. The more relaxed our legs are, the less we’ll suffer knee pain from sitting positions.
What is the correct knee position while sitting at a computer? Image by Inegvin via Megapixl.
This article will describe the best desk posture to avoid knee pain. After that, it’ll describe some knee health tips for office workers we can practice (away from our desks).
When it comes to computer posture, I believe everything is temporary. A permanent curve in the spine will only happen if we never implement good computer ergonomics. How do I correct my poor computer posture quickly? And how long it will take? Those are the important questions.
Will slouching cause a permanent curve in my spine? Image by Igor Omilaev via Unsplash.
This article will talk about how slouching affects spine alignment. Then, it’ll talk about how to prevent permanent spine curvature from slouching.
I used to have poor office posture and headaches would occur multiple times a month. But headaches are common among everyone, not just desk workers. So does that mean poor posture causes headaches? Regardless, bad computer posture can definitely lead to increased risk of muscle tension and head pain.
Does bad computer posture cause headaches? Photo by Moonsafarii via Megapixl
I’m not interested in how to relieve headaches once they’ve already started. I mean, that’s good info to have. But I want to get more down to the bottom of the cause. How can I prevent sitting position headaches before they happen? And why were my headaches always happening around the same time of afternoon? It wasn’t a coincidence that I’d been sitting at a computer for 7 hours when my headaches would typically start.
Office chair ergonomics can be a complex topic. My goal is to explain it in an easy, understandable, actionable process. I like to provide the minimal amount of information, that will yield the most results for desk worker health.
“Sit up straight” is actually a common posture myth that can lead to computer-related back pain. Photo by Fizkes via Megapixl.
This article will be debunking one of the most common posture myths. “Sit up straight” is not exactly clear advice. And although it could correct a desk worker from slouching forward, it could cause other postural dysfunction.
Sitting up too straight could take our spine out of a neutral position and cause it to be overextended. More specific, accurate advice would be to, “Sit with a balanced, neutral spine.”
I started this website back in 2012. At that point, I had a sedentary lifestyle for 11 years. I worked a minimum of 8 hours a day in a compromised, improper sitting position. In addition to my postural dysfunction, bad sitting posture had a major impact on my productivity and mental clarity.
I created this website to be the resource I wish I had back in 2001, when I first started sitting at a computer for long periods of time. Also, I wanted to learn how to correct bad sitting posture at my desk.
I started implementing all the slouching at desk solutions I could. Also, I wanted to share my story with others, so they could learn from my experience. With my technology background, I created SittingPosture.com. And with my writing background, I wrote a book titled 45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.
Common sitting posture mistakes and fixes. Image by Eraxion via Megapixl.
This article will talk about common sitting posture mistakes. Then, it’ll talk about how to fix sitting posture. Finally, I’ll answer some frequently asked questions on how to properly sit at a computer desk.
Posture is the position we hold our bodies in. Ergonomics is the study of peoples’ efficiency in their working environment.
As office workers, computer posture always takes place while we’re at our workstations. In my opinion, office ergonomics should be considered even when we’re away from our desks. To have good computer ergonomics, we should be intentional about all of our healthy habits. Especially, those that contribute directly to how good our computer posture is.
What’s the difference between posture and ergonomics? Photo by Andreypopov via Megapixl.
This article will talk about the comparison of posture vs ergonomics. It’ll also answer some frequently asked questions about the ergonomics and posture relationship.
As office workers, we’ve become disconnected from the Earth in a major way. We’re constantly indoors for at least 8 hours a day. We completely miss out on seeing the sun. It’s barely light outside when we drive to work. And we drive home from work in the dark.
Our workday is supported by fake florescent lights beaming down on us. We stare directly at neon lights coming out of our monitor screens.
Instead of breathing in fresh outdoor air, we breathe in a mixture of dust from the ceiling tiles and germs from your cubicle mates.
Once the weekend comes around, we’re beat down both mentally and physically. Mostly from job stress and working in a computer posture all week. Even if we did spend Saturday and Sunday outdoors, 2 out of 7 days a week just isn’t enough.
Of all these downsides about working in an office, one of the most unfortunate is that our feet never touch the ground anymore.
This image shows a grounding sheet like the one I use for better sleep. Image via Amazon.com.
This article is about grounding bed sheets. It’ll talk about how they work and the benefits I’ve gotten from mine. Grounding bed sheets are the most helpful product I’ve used to connect with the natural healing properties of the Earth. The best part about a grounding sheet, it does all the work for me while I’m sleeping.
Healthy sleep habits are an important factor of computer ergonomics. The definition of ergonomics is: the study of peoples’ efficiency in the workplace. Posture is also an important ergonomic variable. Posture is the position we hold our bodies in.
If we have poor sleep quality at night, it’s going to directly affect our computer posture the next day. The earlier in the day we get tired, the earlier we have poor computer posture. This is why healthy sleep habits are necessary in order to have good computer posture.
Healthy sleep habits are an important factor of how good our computer posture is the next day. Photo by Rido via Megapixl.
I like to define all the variables of computer ergonomics as:
Posture
Sleep
Hydration
Breathing
Nutrition
This article will focus on how to create a healthy sleeping environment that sets us up for success before we even get in the bed.
A lot of computer users don’t think about sleep and posture in the same sentence. They don’t understand that our sleep quality is directly related to the quality of our computer posture the next day. If I sleep poorly at night, I get tired quickly the next day. As soon as I get tired, my computer posture gets significantly worse.
The majority of office workers never think to fix their sleeping posture. If you’re reading this article, you’re in the top percentage of high-performance action takers. And that’s something to be very proud of.
Good sleeping posture is directly related to how good my computer posture is the next day. Photo by Kaspiic via Megapixl.
This article will share some of my favorite sleeping posture tips. My goal is always to share the minimal amount of information, that will make the biggest improvement in results. I try to take the boring topic of computer posture, then make it as interesting and as valuable as possible. The specific topic of this article will be sleeping posture correction.
You would think sitting gives your legs a break. You’re not using your leg muscles to walk, or even stand. But if you aren’t using your legs while sitting, why is knee pain such a common computer-related injury?
Why does sitting cause knee pain? Photo by Chernetskaya via Megapixl.
This article will explain how a sedentary lifestyle caused knee problems in both of my legs.
When sitting for long periods of time, our knees are often at a 90 degree angle or less. Our knee is designed to get in this position, but it’s not designed to stay in this position. For example, jumping and squatting are other positions where it’s helpful to get our knees at a 90 degree angle.
But when our knees are at this same angle for long periods of time, that’s when it becomes a problem. It doesn’t matter that we’re sitting in a chair, it can still be causing knee pain. When we sit, the hamstring muscles on the back of our legs are activated, overused, and shortened. The quadricep muscles on the front of our legs are stretched, underused, and lengthened. These 2 muscle groups are supposed to work together evenly. Instead, the hamstrings are constantly contracted when we’re sitting, while the quadriceps are doing the exact opposite. And the more we pull our feet under our desk chair, the more destructive this position becomes.
Back when I used to eat fast food, I would always pick what I thought was the “healthiest” option, grilled chicken for example. I had no idea how bad those “healthy” options were for me. The main reason was the seed oils these foods were cooked in.
In the fall of 2022, I stopped eating fast food altogether. My goal wasn’t even to lose weight. I weighed 235 pounds. But I’m 6’3″ tall. I didn’t feel overweight necessarily. But I didn’t feel good as far as energy goes. And I had a high amount of chronic pain and inflammation. My muscle recovery wasn’t good either. My main goal for quitting fast food was to have more energy and to feel better.
These options have made how to cook without seed oils very easy for me.
After 3 months of no fast food, I was shocked at how much weight I’d lost.
I went from 235 pounds, down to 190. I’d lost 45 pounds in 3 months. The main thing was, that I felt great. It was then that I realized, just how bad seed oils were for me. I didn’t even change any other daily habits during that 3 months. I didn’t do cardio. But I did lift weights like I normally do. And I usually don’t take long breaks when I’m lifting. So the workouts did have a certain mid-intensity, cardio aspect to them. But I didn’t run for any distances, or do any cardio-only workouts, during that period. I also didn’t cut any calories. I just changed the foods I ate. Instead of fast food, I was cooking a lot of grass-fed red meat and eggs. I didn’t sacrifice taste at all. The food I was eating actually tasted better.
Since then, I’ve taken a class on cellular inflammation that’s helped me further understand the dangers of seed oils and why they are so bad for us. This class was taught by a doctor. It was very eye-opening. Everything I learned from it has been very helpful in improving my all-around health. And anything that improves my health is directly related to improving my computer posture. That class can be found here if you’d like to learn more.
Fast food companies cook with seed oils because they are much less expensive than healthy animal fats.
A gallon of unhealthy canola oil costs as low as $5. Comparatively, grass-fed beef tallow (a healthy seed-oil substitute) costs over $50 per gallon. That means it’s 10 times more expensive. With the massive amounts of cooking oils that fast food companies need, of course they’re going to choose a cheap, unhealthy option like canola oil every time. It’s an easy way for them to increase their profits, while customers pay the price with their health.
I consider tech neck to be a chronic, poor posture position. It’s caused by looking down at any kind of technology device. This includes phones, tablets, computer monitors, laptop monitors, keyboard, and mouse. It can be fixed. But it’s going to take time, consistent effort, and intention.
This user is suffering from tech neck. Photo by Mike2focus via Megapixl.
Every single time we look down to view a device, it adds up. It starts off small, we don’t notice any pain or dysfunction. But it doesn’t matter if we glance down quickly for a second, or if we are holding that compromised neck position for long periods of time. Both eventually contributed to tech neck symptoms for me like chronic pain and muscle tension. These included headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, and chest tension.
Sitting at a computer caused me long-term repetitive strain and overuse injuries. One of the most stubborn computer-related injuries was my neck pain and the muscle confusion that came along with it. This was specifically caused by having my monitor screen too low. This includes using a laptop screen for long periods of time.
I used to always have my head tilted forward, looking at a downward angle to see my monitor screen. The muscles on the front of my neck would compress and shorten as they were constantly activated for 8 hours a day. The muscles on the back of my neck were overextended and lengthened. This caused excessive muscle tension and dysfunction in my neck.
Using the Iron Neck gave me eye-opening benefits for my workstation ergonomics. Photo via iron-neck.com.
Iron Neck
This article will talk about my experience with one my favorite posture correction devices. It’s called the Iron Neck. It is a strength and therapy device that greatly improved my neck strength, mobility, and computer posture correction.
Side note: This Iron Neck device review is not paid promotion. I’m not compensated by them. I paid my own money for this product. And I enjoy sharing my experience with readers about products that’ve helped me improve my computer posture.
I used to think fasting was strictly for weight loss. As I learned more about it, that’s a common fasting myth debunked. I’ve realized that time-restricted eating has more health benefits than just losing weight.
Improve Computer Posture with Intermittent Fasting. Photo by Everydayplus via Megapixl.
There are many different ways to practice intermittent fasting. Although I’ve lost body fat, I haven’t lost any weight according to the scale. And that’s okay with me. I’ve never been motivated by the number on a scale.
My main goals are to wake up everyday feeling strong, energetic, and pain-free. These goals are directly related to how good (or bad) my computer posture is throughout the day. This article will talk about how intermittent fasting has helped me feel stronger, with more energy, and decreased pain.
I’ve been doing desk work at a computer since 2002. By 2011, my computer posture was poor and my body was broken. Working in the same vulnerable, poor posture caused a lot of computer-related pain. It also caused long-term issues like low energy, decreased work productivity, and lack of mental clarity.
Ever since 2011, I’ve taken full accountability for my bad computer posture. I’ve learned as many ergonomic office tips possible. Everything I write about is directly related to how good, or bad, our computer posture is.
When I got my degree in Information Technology, ergonomics was a topic that interested me. That’s probably because I’ve been an athlete since I was young. The combination of these 2 backgrounds led me to start this website and write a book. I wanted to solve a real-life problem of mine, which was computer-related pain caused by poor posture. I also wanted to document what I’ve learned, on my website and in my book, so other people could learn from my mistakes.
This article is about my book titled, 45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture. I wrote it for the part-time athlete who sits at a computer full-time. My book is the computer ergonomics guide I wish I had many years ago, when I first started sitting at a computer for 8 hours a day, long-term.
Working at a computer in sitting posture for 8 hours a day is an endurance event. Some of our muscles our overused excessively. Others are deactivated and hardly used at all.
We want to have an ergonomic desk setup that is an asset to our health. We want it to promote good computer posture. Also, we don’t want our desk setup to be a liability that causes excessive muscle tension and chronic pain.
What are common computer-related injuries? Photo by F01photo via Megapixl.
This article will talk about 2 of the most common computer-related injuries. These repetitive strain injuries are knee pain and shoulder pain. You’ll learn what sitting health risks cause these 2 injuries to get worse. Then, you’ll learn how to prevent knee and shoulder pain from sitting at a computer.
