By Dona Suri
Okay, it’s not bulldogging or harvesting lobster pots in the teeth of a nor’easter but … people who earn their daily bread pulling long hours in front of a computer screen have their share of occupational hazards too.
If your job requires you to spend a minimum of four hours a day working on a computer, then you are at increased risk of at least five serious risks to your health.
Musculoskeletal Problems
“Oooh, my aching … ” [Tick any of the following ]
[ ] back [ ] neck [ ] wrists [ ] hands [ ] arms [ ] shoulders [ ] feet [ ] everything
Sometimes what you feel is not exactly pain but numbness, stiffness and fatigue.
Musculoskeletal problems arise because of strain on the body caused by
* Poor sitting posture
* Unsupportive chair or workstation
A specific, and very common, complaint is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This occurs when the median nerve (runs from forearm into the palm of the hand) becomes pressed or squeezed at the wrist. The hand and wrist feel weak, go numb or hurt, fingers may become swollen and useless. It is brought on by high rates of repetitive movement of the wrists, working with bent wrists, forceful hand motions, and improper rests of the hands and wrists – which is a good description for what your mouse hand is doing all day.
Tense neck, shoulder and back muscles can also bring on headaches. Face it: prolonged laptop use is going to cause a problem for you somewhere
Remedy:
* Adjust your computer screen so that it is at eye level or slightly lower
* Check out your desk and chair. Are they at a correct height for you? You should be able to sit up straight in your chair, with your feet touching the floor or a foot rest. The height of the desk top should allow you to work with your shoulders in a low natural position, arms close to the body, wrists and hands extended and not abnormally raised. neck and shoulders.
* Avoid Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by placing your mouse at a location next to the keyboard that will require you to move your whole arm to get to it rather that just twisting your wrist outward to reach it and move it.
* Keep your wrists flexible when typing; avoid keeping them fixed in a certain position; keeping them flexible avoids repetitive strain. Do not pound the keyboard.
* When you are not typing or using the mouse, relax your arms, roll your shoulders, wiggle your back.
* Whenever, wherever possible, use a desktop rather than a laptop. There is no healthy way to use a laptop: screen and keyboard are very close together. If you position the screen at the right height for your back and neck, it will cause you to have to lift your arms and shoulders too high to use it and vice versa.
Vision Problems
Hours spent in front of flickering images on a screen that is over-bright, reflects backlight, and is tilted at a bad viewing angle. Result: sooner rather than later, your eyes are going to hurt. Suffering from bloodshot, tired, dry or watery eyes is bad enough but subjecting your eyes to strain, day in, day out, leads to loss of vision.
Remedy:
* Select a monitor whose diagonal screen size should be at least 19 inches and the display dot pitch should be 0.28 mm or smaller.
* Display brightness should be about the same as the brightness of your surrounding workstation.
* Choose a text size and contrast that is easy to read. Usually, black print on a white background is the best combination.
* To lower the amount of blue light emitted, reduce the color temperature of your display. Blue light (short-wavelength) produces more eye strain; orange and red (longer wavelength) produces less.
* Position your computer screen: windows to the side, NOT front or behind. The screen should be 20 to 24 inches from your eyes. The center of your screen should be about 10 to 15 degrees below your eyes for comfortable positioning of your head and neck.
* Eliminate exterior light: close drapes, shades or blinds. Reduce interior light: use lower intensity bulbs. Floor lamps that provide indirect “soft white” LED are more eye-friendly than overhead fluorescent lights.
* Use an anti-glare screen on the monitor.
* Bright white walls increase eye-strain. Walls painted in darker colors with matte finish reduce it.
* If you wear glasses, prefer lenses with anti-reflective coating. These glasses are also beneficial for people who wear bifocals or progressive lenses. Contact lenses can be customized to reduce computer glare. Have your eyes examined regularly.
* Blink. Every 20 minutes, blink 10 times by closing your eyes as if falling asleep (very slowly). This keeps the eyes moist. A type of eye drops called “artificial tears” prevents dry eyes. (These drops are not the same as drops formulated to “get the red out” which merely reduce the size of blood vessels on the surface of your eyes but do not reduce dryness and irritation.
* Relax the focusing muscle inside the eye by looking away from your computer at least every 20 minutes and gazing at a distant object (at least 20 feet away) for at least 20 seconds.
* Maintain the eye’s ability to focus by looking at an object far away for 10-15 seconds, then gaze at something up close for 10-15 seconds. Then look back at the distant object. Do this 10 times. This prevents accommodative spasm in the eye, brought on by prolonged computer work.
* If you need to look back and forth between a printed page and your computer screen, place the written pages on a copy stand adjacent to your screen. Light the copy stand properly. (If you use a desk lamp, make sure it doesn’t shine into your eyes or onto your computer screen.)
Obesity
“Sedentary” means sitting. Whether you are sitting while doing your job, or sitting to play a video game, sitting is sitting. It is not moving the body, not raising the heart rate, not burning fat.
Remedy:
* If earning enough to pay your bills means that you can’t avoid sitting for eight hours a day, then at least stay off the computer when you are on your own time.
* Eat healthy and mind your total calorie intake.
* Limit children’s computer/game console/phone time. Get your kids into any active sport. Or dance classes. Or biking, hiking, skateboarding, anything involving movement, fresh air and sunshine. Keep them off chips, candies and sugary soft drinks. They can’t eat unhealthy stuff if you don’t buy it. And don’t buy it for yourself either.
Circulation Problems
Sitting for more than four hours at a stretch – particularly sitting with legs crossed — reduces the circulation of blood to the limbs. The result can be blood clots, particularly in the legs. If blood clots break away from where they are lodged and travel to another area, such as your lungs (pulmonary embolism) you are in for serious trouble. An embolism damages lung tissue and lowers oxygen level in the blood, which damage other organs. A large pulmonary embolism (or multiple pulmonary embolisms) is life-threatening.
Remedy:
* Move, and if you can’t move, fidget. Getting up and taking a break is best, but if you have to sit for an extended period, keep wriggling your legs, feet, arms, hands and torso even while sitting.
* Advice for avoiding musculo-skeletal problems applies to circulation problems.
* Avoid crossing your legs when using a computer for an extended period of time.
Stress Disorders
Occupational conditions results in poor physical health. Poor physical health impacts mental health. The most common expression of this is stress. Stress is in-built when work is highly precise, loaded with details and deadlines must be met. Burn out is a reality. It’s symptoms: decreased attention span, lack of concentration, dizziness, brain fog. And if the pressures of work aren’t bad enough, employees can now add the fear of losing their job to AI.
Remedy:
* Keep a journal for a week or two, noting situations that create the most stress and how you reacted. Look for patterns and think of optimum responses.
* Avoid unhealthy stress responses (fast food, alcohol). Deliberately choose healthy responses: exercise, yoga, hobbies, time with family and friends. Social support improves ability to manage stress.
* Sleep well. Limit evening caffeine intake and screen use late in the day.
* Establish work-life boundaries. Do not check email from home in the evening, do not answer the phone during dinner. From time to time recharge, switch off, disconnect. When you’re not able to take time off, get a quick boost by turning off your phone and focusing your attention on nonwork activities for a while.
* Learn how to relax. Practice mindfulness. (That means actively observe present experiences and thoughts without judging them.) Take a few minutes each day to focus on a simple activity like breathing, walking, or enjoying a meal. The more you do this, the easier it gets. The goal is to apply it to many different aspects of life.
* Employers should want employees who are physically and mentally healthy – they are more productive. Together management and staff can come up with an effective plan for reducing/managing stressors. Improvements could involve better communication, better time management, making changes to physical workspace, making tasks more meaningful.
* Get professional help. Talking to a psychologist does not mean that you are crazy. The idea is to learn ways that help you to manage stress and change unhealthy behavior.