The Covid-19-driven lockdown has pushed the entire professional workforce into working from home. Being relatively new to this telecommuting medium, you may often not have proper work-desk arrangements set up at home. Working for long hours in sub-optimal working conditions over a long time can have an impact on your health. Poor posture while working on the laptop could cause musculoskeletal disorders like pain in the neck, back, shoulders, and other issues. It’s important that you mind the posture while working at home.
The right posture
Adjust the height of your chair and rest your feet on the floor or the footrest. Bend your knees at 90 degrees to relieve the excess pressure out of your back.
Take proper lumbar support to keep your back straight.
Ensure your arms are always supported, either on the desk or the armrest of the chair with elbows bent at 90 degrees while typing on the keyboard.
If you don’t have a chair with good back support, you should take breaks or change your posture after every 20 minutes.
Avoid slouching or lowering your neck while working.
It’s also a good idea to stand and work to vary your work posture. You may use a storage cabinet as your standing workstation. The more regularly you change your posture, the better you will feel.
While standing, place your laptop on a hard surface.
Adjust the height of your laptop screen such that the screen is at your eye level.
Don’t slouch or lower your back.
Keep your laptop away from any kind of liquid to prevent spills.
Use your laptop safely
It is natural to pick a comfortable spot while working on the laptop at home. Given that you will end up working for long hours, maintaining the correct posture becomes crucial.
It is recommended that you opt for a laptop stand and set up your system in a way that the screen is raised to the height of your eyebrows. You should also use a wireless mouse and a keyboard if possible and keep the screen at your arm’s length while typing.
Working from home means there is a chance for you to become more sedentary. You no longer have to walk over to the conference room or take a post-lunch casual walk around the premises.
While at home, ensure you take breaks to move around a bit. Try to walk around a bit while you are on the phone.
Socialise a bit, as you would do if you were in office. Micro-breaks are great productivity boosters and also prevent you from staying seated all day.
(Courtesy Godrej Interio)