office work ergonomics

During a particular reflective period in my early twenties I was struck by how little consideration for office workers there was in terms of ergonomics. I’m probably going to spend the next 40 years sitting at my desk, staring at my screen - yet I’ve never been offered options that would consider the health aspect of this?

I paused and thought about how to combat this myself: I bought a vertical mouse to reduce risk of RSI and carpal tunnel syndrome. Some colleagues initial reaction was mild disgust after trying it, as in “This feels so weird to use!”. After using it for a couple of days, it felt natural (or should I say, like a second skin? It came in handy?), and I even started gaming with a vertical mouse.

We had one or two standing desks in our department of 15 people; I believe the company felt it was too much of a capital expense to buy a standing desk for everybody. This appears to have changed when reading job ads, as it gets listed frequently as a plus now.

Staring at a screen for hours on end, at the same distance, stresses your eye muscles a lot. I feel especially fatigued after work, and experience a headache that subseeds after an hour or so. The mediation for this could be the 20/20/20 rule, meaning that you should take a break from viewing your screen every 20 minutes, and look at something 20 meters away, for at least 20 seconds. This relaxes said eye muscles. I was just getting into Linux at the time, and automatically launched my lock screen after 20 minutes, but it didn’t work out for me. There are also tools like flux that adjusts the screen warmth to reduce blue light before bed time, and glasses like Gunnar with similar functionality.

Now, roughly ten years later, I also experience more (lower) back pain and stiffness. Sitting all day doesn’t exactly improve this, and I’m glad I got into BJJ where I use my whole body. I should exercise and stretch more tho..

I’m hoping that companies continue to improve on this, offering ergonomic periphery by default. If you don’t want it, opt out, but I believe this would be a big improvement. I know people in my close circle that have deal with carpal tunnel or herniated discs before they turned 30, and maye this could have been avoided. Take care.