Consciously Digital graduate Ines Fernandes, a specialist in ergonomics, shares the tips on how to keep your spine healthy when working from home.
In ergonomics we have a saying, “the best posture is your next posture”. Now that we spend lots of time in front of the screens, it's essential to keep moving both for your physical and mental health not only when you are working from home, but also on your daily life, independently of your professional situation.
Simple tricks that will help your physical and mental health when working from home:
- Setup your dedicated workspace – choose an area in our house that you can use as your office, an area where you only go during “working hours”. While doing it take into account some ergonomic principles such as having your lower back supported on a suitable chair.
- Take regular active breaks throughout the day – most people know this is important, however implementing such a routine and sticking to it is challenging. To help yourself, get people around you to take movement breaks together with you, so you can support and motivate each other.
- Feeling headaches and eye strain by the end of the day? Implement the 20-20-20 rule – for every 20min looking at a screen, stop for 20 seconds and look at something 20 feet (6m) away. This will help your eyes relax and refocus, decreasing blurred vision and visual discomfort.
Stay healthy!