5 Easy Tips to Stay Healthy While Working on Computer

Stay healthy while working on computer

Whether you work in an office or from home, you will definitely need your computer or laptop to accomplish your simple and complex tasks. Indeed, the computer is a primary tool to get your work done, but it is not a good idea to work on the computer for long hours at the cost of your health.

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, working on the computer every day for long hours promotes a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart, spine, and vision problems.

But the good news is you can stay healthy while working for even long hours without compromising your health and work efficiency. In this brief guide, you will learn the side effects of working on a computer for long hours, how to maintain your health while working on the computer, and take care of your body posture, eye health, and overall body well-being with the help of simple tips and exercises. So, let’s go through it.

1. Maintaining good posture

 Having a good posture contributes a lot to your personality and overall physical attraction. You are most likely to sit in a bad posture with your spine curved and neck forward unconsciously. This sitting position affects the mobility of your spine and puts a lot of pressure on your neck muscles (that causes nerd neck that I don’t like at all), which can cause back pain and make your posture awful.

To avoid this, you should sit with your back straight and your neck aligned with your spine. Try using Ergonomic chairs specially designed for working on computers (that’s your choice; it’s ok if you can’t buy one). You can also work on computer standing with your desktop placed at a higher table. Avoid sitting for long hours and try to take a break every half an hour. Get up and move around. It will keep your posture good, and you will feel more active throughout the work. It will help you to get rid of some calories as well.

Do yoga or simple stretching daily for body flexibility. Cobra stretch, back bends, and bridge pose will do wonders for you.

2. Eye Health

 Computer LEDs emit Blue Light, which can affect your vision and circadian rhythm (sleep cycle). Sticking your eyes consistently to the screen promotes blurry vision, dark circles around the eyes, insomnia, headache, and eye strain.

To keep your eyes healthy, follow the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, you just have to look at anything 20 meters away from you for 20 seconds. You can also just close your eyes and rest them to avoid any possible strain. Blink your eyes more often while working. Rub your palms together to heat them up and place them on both your eyes. It will prevent dark circles and will relax your eyes. Splash cold water in your eyes to refresh them.

You can purchase Blue Light Glasses for extra care. It will prevent your eyes from Blue Light exposure, or you can simply install a Blue Light filter extension from chrome to increase the warmth of the screen.

 

3. Mental Health

 Yes, you heard it right! Mental health is also badly affected if you just keep sitting for hours fixating on the computer work. You would have heard of burnout. You might feel irritated and agitated by working for long hours before the computer screen. It will affect your work efficiency, and you won’t be able to do your best.

So, It is necessary to give yourself short breaks from time to time. Do something you enjoy, like reading your favorite novel, having some tasty snack, or gossiping with your coworker or a friend. It will keep you fresh and ready to do your best.

Meditate daily to promote mental poise and self-control. Exercise to boost your mood. Have some time off work. Have a quality night's sleep. You can also take a cat nap while working.

4. Healthy Snacking

 Working on computers does not involve any significant physical activity. So you are not burning that many calories. (you can do the above exercises to burn some, though.) 

You are more likely to feel hungry more often while working and you might feel like grabbing some junk snacks like donuts, coffee, other sugary items, or something cheesy. But, if you do so, you are (perhaps) unknowingly inviting many health problems and serious diseases to attack you. You keep stacking calories on calories, and you become vulnerable to diabetes, obesity, and heart diseases.

So, you should keep an eye on what you eat. Try munching on healthy snacks like apples, bananas, nuts, juices, or smoothies. They are healthy and tasty as well. They will provide you with enough energy, with no compromise on your health.

Additionally, you should drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. Drinking water is the simplest way possible to stay active and refreshed. Keep your water bottle and bowl of healthy snacks near you on the table.

5. Workspace

 Your working environment matters a lot for your health and work efficiency. A smart and healthy workspace ensures a healthy work routine. 

Here are some tips you can make your workspace work for you:

• ·      Keep the workspace clean. Clean your keyboard, mouse, and table with some antiseptic liquid, so there is no chance of bacteria making you sick. According to Forbes, there are more than 3,000 types of germs per square inch on a keyboard and 1,600 per square inch on a mouse. So, make sure to wash your hands after you have finished your work.

• ·      Don’t sit too close to the computer screen, or you will damage your eyes. It will also cause severe headaches. So make sure to be at arm's length from the computer screen.

• ·      Take care of the lighting in the room you are working in. Neither should it be too intense as to damage your vision nor should it be too dim as to put a strain on your eyes.

• ·     Similarly, the brightness of your screen should be medium. You should use anti-glare glasses or use a Blue Light Filter to block the blue light.

• ·      Sit on a comfortable chair, with a straight posture. Take care of the pressure you are applying on your shoulder and neck muscles. Your keyboard should be above the knees on the table. Keep the monitor screen slightly tilted upward.

Conclusion

 Working on a computer for long hours might be really agonizing for health. But, you can take care of your health by following the simple tips I have told you above. It is the summary of all the remedies you will find on the internet to maintain your health if you have to work on a computer all day, every day.

Work hard and take care of yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.