Work From Home and Office Environment Self Care Tips
Sitting at your desk for 8 hours every day can negatively impact your health. You may find your wrists, back, and eyes getting sore and tired by the end of the working day. It is obvious that you'll be much more productive at work when you do not have nagging sores and pains bothering you and so, below are some simple self care suggestions that can help you work for longer with less fatigue.
Proper Stretches
Repetitive stress injures like carpal tunnel can slowly develop from typing and using the mouse all day. Obvious symptoms of repetitive stress injuries include cramps and spasms in your wrist, palms, and fingers. To avoid and alleviate these symptoms, doing proper stretches can relieve tension in the wrists and only take half a minute to do!
Below is a short video that guides you through some simple wrist stretches. It's good to do these stretches throughout the day to notice a significant improvement in your forearms and wrists. So, we recommend setting a reminder to take a break every half an hour, and spend a couple of minutes stretching your wrists and arms.
In addition to stretches, Copper Compression's Half Finger Compression Gloves are designed to help relieve arthritis pains and sores in your hands. Check out our collection of wrist and hand support gear here.
Desk Ergonomics
If your shoulders, back, and neck hurt from sitting in front of a monitor for long periods of time, the root cause might be your desk setup. Slouching shoulders may be a sign of your keyboard positioned too low, and a sore neck could imply that your monitor is not at the optimal height.
Many people have also adopted a standing desk setup as it relieves the lower back and glutes from excess pressure. You could alternate between sitting and standing every hour to ensure that not a single region of your body receives a concentrated amount of stress to too long. The info-graphics above show the correct sitting and standing posture at a work desk.
Wearing a back brace or posture corrector can also help with back and shoulder pains. These devices support your back and improve your posture by providing gentle, targeted pressure at critical locations on your back. These braces also takes some load off your shoulders, preventing sores spots from developing in your upper body.
Screen Breaks
Digital eye strain is a condition whereby your eyes get tired and dry from using a computer or smartphone for too long. This is because our eyes blink less in front of a screen, reducing the amount of tears spread around our eyeballs.
Take screen breaks by looking away from the screen periodically. Try following the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Another tip is to look away from the screen for 15 minutes for every two hours you spend on your device.
These techniques along with many more that you can find online, will help reduce fatigue that you may experience in your eyes.
Whether you're working from home or spending late nights at the office, it is important to take care of your body to prevent periodic pains and sores from developing into a long term medical complications. Copper Compression specializes in producing active care gear that helps relieve muscle tension and speeds up injury recovery. Check out our full collection of Strength to Heal products here.
