Office work generally requires a lot of thinking, talking, discussing, writing, typing and clicking and all of the above activities are accomplished most frequently when the office employee are seated and sitting for extended periods of time is anything but good for health.
Apart from stress and anxiety, office employees are also prone to obesity and musculoskeletal dysfunction in the long term which is directly attributed prolonged sitting for hours in a day for years. As opposed to what many people think, working for hours in a day seated in a chair is actually quite detrimental to the health both physical and mentally.
Sitting down for long hours not only restricts or limits blood flow to muscles and organs, but it also causes large muscles to weaken, gain weight, shorten hip flexor muscles and adopt poor posture which lead to disc compression and premature degeneration. Some studies have even linked to extended periods of sitting to colon cancer, diabetes type 2 and heart disease.
This brings us to the question on how office employees can remain healthy despite having to be in an office all day for most days in a year. This article presents two particular remedies that help the office employee to cope with sitting which has been as the ‘new smoking’ and for all the right reasons.
The first remedy offered in this article towards offsetting the negative impact of sitting is movement. Yes, movement is a friend and even within your workstation, make it a point to stand and move about while working at the end of each hour.
Be aware of the duration of each sit, even stretching for just 2 or 3 minutes for every hour of sitting is good enough as it would ease the strained muscles quickly and also allow blood circulation to return to normal. Brisk walking about on top of stretching is also a great way to reset muscles to normal conditions which would also ease tension on the spine that has been built up during sitting.
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The second remedy is all about the workstation’s support factor and the magic word from this angle is ‘ergonomics’ as having ergonomic office furniture has been proven to not only support good posture, but also enhance concentration, increase productivity and also ease muscle tension during the sitting period.
This is especially true when it comes to good quality ergonomic chairs which offer a range of benefits for the body and is a proven solution towards preventing musculoskeletal disorders which often affect office employees in the long run.
The reasons behind as to why ergonomic chairs are good for office employees (be it a home office or commercial office) is because ergonomic chairs have adjustable components and physical support systems such as seat tilt adjustment, armrest adjustment, lumbar support and a variety of other features that are critical towards not just maintaining good posture, but also comfort despite extended periods of sitting down.
Ergonomic keyboards, mouse, and other office furniture should also be considered if cost is not an issue.
