I consider myself fortunate to work in an office and in the search engine optimization industry. I don’t break my back doing construction work or other manual labor jobs, although I certainly have in the past.
Running a jackhammer was fun, but it wasn’t something I wanted to do forever.
Now that I work in an office, I’m no longer subjected to the loudness that sometimes can be associated with construction – particularly with jackhammers!
But that’s not to say there aren’t other health risks that I’ve run into while sitting in front of a desk for 8-plus hours a day and staring at a computer screen.
So I wanted to do a bit of research into ways to combat “first page placement fatigue”. Anyone who works on a computer all day will certainly find this helpful, but I’m tailoring the article towards SEOs.
Let’s start with eyesight.
Our poor eyes take a beating in the office. Advances in computer screen technology have certainly helped, but after 8 hours of working on my 19” LCD monitor at work, my eyes usually feel strained. I’m fortunate I don’t have an old CRT! (If you do work on a CRT monitor, it makes sense to upgrade)
The symptoms aren’t hard to describe. Eyes that feel sore, itchy, tired or burning may be suffering from eyestrain. If you suffer from dry eyes, watery eyes, a sore neck, blurred or double vision, or have trouble shifting your focus between the monitor and text on paper, you’re a candidate for eyestrain.
And guess what? It’s even called Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).
It’s caused by our eyes and brains disagreeing on how to focus on the pixels on a computer screen versus a printed page.
On a printed page, there are well defined edges to the text whereas the text on a computer screen is made up of tiny pixels of light. The center of the pixels is brightest and they fade at the edges.
All on their own, our eyes want to drift to the resting point of accommodation (the faded edges). Then they strain and struggle to refocus on the page as we read on. No es bueno.
So what can we do about it?
The last thing we want is a slip in the quality of our work because we’re suffering from headaches and blurred vision. Our clients aren’t paying us to get on the fourth page of Google.
Your first step is to see an eye doctor and get a computer eye exam. You may be recommended for computer glasses that are optimized for the typical computer screen distance.
Try taking more breaks away from your workstation. In our office, we have two 15 minute breaks and lunch. That’s probably not enough though. Make a conscious effort to get up from your desk and get a cup of water every now and then. Or least shift your focus away from your monitor once in a while. I’m not saying be unproductive, but your vision is important to protect!
You can also blink more frequently to increase the moisture on your eyes, and you can exercise your eyes. Try it by shifting your focus away from your monitor and staring at something in the distance a couple of times an hour. It doesn’t need to be miles away – 10 yards will do fine.
Making some adjustments to your display can also help. Adjusting the brightness and contrast may help. Your monitor should be about the same brightness as the room you work in. You may need to adjust the lighting in the room to cut down on strain.
Also, if you can set your refresh rate above the 60-75 hertz range, it will decrease the strain on your eyes.
Our eyes aren’t the only part of our body that can feel beat up after a day of optimization.
Your back can start to slip out of alignment if your chair doesn’t offer lumbar support or you have poor posture.
When you sit slouched in your computer chair, you put an awkward and unnatural strain on your joints and muscles.
You can impede circulation, misalign muscles and even put a disc in your spine out of place if you allow poor posture to be on-going.
But if you’re sitting in a chair for extended periods of time all day, how to you combat this?
It can actually start with your keyboard, mouse and monitor.
You should always have your monitor about at eye level. Not above it, not below it. Otherwise you’re looking up or down all day, putting a strain on your neck muscles.
Your keyboard should be at a level where your fingers can comfortably type if your arms are hanging by their sides and bent at the elbow almost at a 90 degree angle. The same goes for your mouse.
If your keyboard and mouse are in a position where it becomes awkward or uncomfortable on your wrists, you may unconsciously shift your posture to make up the difference.
Now about that lumbar support…
Your back has a natural curve to it and your lumbar region is basically the lower portion of your spine.
Specifically, your lumbar region is comprised of the 5 largest and strongest vertebrae in your spine. This part of your back bears the largest portion of body weight and is responsible for a lot of upper body flexibility.
Having an ergonomic office chair is the first step in preventing lower back pain that can come from hours of sitting every day. If the chair’s lumbar support is as it should be, your ears, shoulders and hips should all be in alignment. The natural inward curvature of your spine should be maintained.
Like many people who sit all day, I’m guilty of leaning back in my chair and also slumping in my chair – allowing my lower back to bed outward.
Think about how you sit. If someone took a profile picture of you in your chair, would you look hunched over your keyboard or would your ears, shoulders and hips be in alignment? I’m willing to bet your hips are well forward of your shoulders.
Proper posture is something that builds upon itself. The more you make the conscious effort to sit in your chair properly, the easier it will become to do.
Experts will also suggest keeping your feet planted flat in front of you, but I’ll admit I break that one a lot.
And finally let’s look at carpal tunnel syndrome.
This has to do with the fibrous tissue and your wrist bone. The very small, tight space between this support band of fibrous tissue and the bone is called the carpal tunnel.
Well guess what happens when you rest your wrist on the desk all day when using your mouse? You compress the fibrous tissue into the carpal tunnel, irritate the median nerve.
Over time you can cause numb hands and tingling fingers which can interrupt your sleep. You can experience pain that radiates upward from your hands and wrist through the forearm, as well as a loss of feeling in your thumb and fingers.
You can lose your fine motor skills and experience clumsiness in your hands and lose your grip easily. Carpal tunnel can also lead to aching shoulders and neck muscles.
No es bueno.
So what can you do about it?
Well you have some non-surgical options, but if you let it go on for too long, you very well may be facing wrist surgery.
Three of the most common treatments are wrist splinting, corticosteroids, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
A wrist splint will hold your wrist still while you sleep and can relieve the nighttime tingling and numbness.
Corticosteroids can be injected into the carpal tunnel by a doctor and can decrease inflammation, relieve pressure on the median nerve and relieve pain.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are designed to relieve some of the pain associated with carpal tunnel.
You can also do some things at the office to prevent the symptoms from developing.
First – stop laying your wrists on the desk when typing or using the mouse. You can buy a cushion to place in front of your keyboard and a mouse pad with a wrist cushion, but ideally you don’t want to rest your wrists on anything.
Next, follow up with some of the suggestions for reducing your eyestrain. Fix your desk so your arms hang naturally and you don’t have to put your wrists into an awkward angle. You should be able to bend your elbow at a 90 degree angle and have your wrists just above the keyboard and mouse, comfortably.
If you do have to have surgery, take solace in knowing that some 70 percent of people are very satisfied with the results.
I won’t even get into eating healthy, getting exercise and staying active. That’s another article on a different site.
But hopefully you’ll utilize some of these tips to improve you workstation health. It’ll keep you efficient while you work on improving your clients’ search engine ranking and placements!
By: Zack S.
