I previously owned a website entitled Adventist Publishing Network. It has since been discontinued, but I salvaged some of the content, including this item. If you are a professional computer user, listen up!

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Don’t Slouch

Desktop publishing, data entry, accounting, writing, programming, and all computer-related fields can be very sedentary. There is also a high possibility for repetitive stress injury. For this reason, professional computer users need to take care that they don’t lose their health or damage their bodies through neglect.

As a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a very health-conscious Christian community, I feel I have been blessed with tremendous insight into the importance of keeping my body in good health. Through careful application of lifestyle principles, all of us can be happier, more productive, and longer-lasting. More critically, we will have a sharper mind to deal with the stresses and spiritual struggles that come our way.

Here are some pointers to get you started towards a more wholesome work method:

Posture

A stiff neck and lower back pain often afflict computer users. The way you sit and how your workspace is set up have a lot to do with your comfort.

Make sure you have a comfortable chair with good back support. The seat of the chair should be at a height where your feet are flat on the floor when your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. You should be able to sit comfortably with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor. If not, adjust the seat until it feels right. A lumbar support pillow may help.

Keyboards are often too high. Your keyboard should be positioned so that when you type your elbows are bent at a 90-degree angle. Many people like to tilt their keyboards up, or else they use them that way because there are tilt legs built into the underside of the keyboard. This is wrong. Typing on a tilted keyboard compresses the upper side of your wrist. To avoid wrist pain you want to keep your palms extended in the direction of your forearm, not tilted up or down. The keyboard should be level, or you may find that tilting the keyboard away from you (with the closest edge higher) is more comfortable. To tilt the keyboard away from you, you will have to find a creative solution like putting rubber erasers under the front of the keyboard. A keyboard drawer for your desk often helps to solve the height problem.

When typing, you should not rest your wrists on a wrist rest. The wrist rest is for moments between typing only. While typing your hands should hover a couple inches above the keyboard height. This protects your wrist and promotes better posture.

Your monitor should be at eye level. Most monitors are too low, and this leads to neck strain as the neck must be held at a bent angle for hours at a time. If the top edge of the monitor is about even with the top of your head, the height should be OK. You can adjust the height until it is comfortable to look at the monitor without bending your neck. The first time you view a monitor this way, it may seem too high. But once you become accustomed to it, you should find it more comfortable.

Repetitive stress

Use of mice and keyboards is known to contribute to various repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Usually improper or excessive use is the problem.

Proper posture can help, as described above. Taking occasional breaks gives your muscles, joints, and tendons a chance to rest. There are also hand and wrist exercises you can do to help relieve the strain.

Learn both keyboard commands and mouse shortcuts for doing common tasks. There is usually more than one way to complete a task on a computer. For example, if you want to print a document you may be able to do it by a keyboard shortcut, by clicking a button on your screen, or by right-clicking anywhere on your screen and choosing “Print” from a pop-up menu. Each program is different, but if you find multiple ways of doing a task you will be have a workaround if a particular input device is causing you discomfort.

A wheel mouse is a great asset, well worth the minimal cost. You can use the wheel, usually located between to two mouse buttons, to scroll. Once you try it, you will learn how easy it is. Scrolling with a wheel beats clicking scroll arrows or dragging in my opinion.

Some people find relief from stress injuries by using digital tablets (not to be confused with tablet PCs). These input devices operate like a pen-and-ink tablet, except that you use the pen to control the cursor on screen instead of using it to write. (You can also use the pen to write text in some applications, but I’ve found it more trouble than using the keyboard.) Many people find holding a pen more comfortable than using a mouse. When I had wrist pain that lasted several weeks, I switched completely from mouse to tablet and found it a great help in my recovery. Wacom is the leading brand, but less expensive brands are available.

Diet

In general you need to follow all the basic dietary guidelines: Get all your nutrients; consume adequate fiber; drink enough water; avoid excessive sugar, salt, and fat; and avoid the bad stuff. 

Drinking enough water can be a challenge, because you may not sense your need of water in a comfortable, air-conditioned office. A software calendar or daily planner like Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Entourage, or Apple’s iCal can help you schedule “water breaks” at appropriate times. Standard advice is eight to ten glasses of water a day. However, if you are fighting illness or if you are tired or under stress, extra water may help.

Because desk work is so sedentary, you may want to cut back on the calories, especially if you find yourself putting on a few lumpies. However, be careful to maintain adequate nutrient intake. Vegetarians need a sufficient supply of B-vitamins and a few other nutrients that are not as plenteous in a non-meat and non-dairy diet. (However, as a mostly-vegan vegetarian myself, I believe a vegetarian diet is overall more nutritious than a meat-based one, and certainly more nutritious than the average fast-food American diet.)

Breaks

Be sure to take regular, short breaks. These will improve your productivity. Stretch. Take a short, brisk walk. Go out for a little sun. It’s important to get your circulation going, to get fresh air in your lungs, and to give your back a rest from constant sitting.

Try to give your mind a break too. If you can socialize with coworkers without disturbing their work, or if you can coordinate your break times to coincide, that can help ease some of the tension from a hard day.

The small investment of time in short breaks will more than pay for itself in overall productivity.

Exercise

In addition to the exercise you may get during your breaks, it is important to have a regular exercise program outside of work hours. This is true for everyone, but especially for desk workers who may not get any exercise unless they schedule it in.

Both strengthening and aerobic exercises will help. You should feel you are getting a good workout. A relaxing stroll is nice, but does not count towards your exercise requirement.

You may want to focus on exercises that are relevant to your work conditions. If you climb several flights of stairs at the office each day, you may not need similar leg exercises in your routine. Typing may give you strong fingers, but you may need to work on your arm and shoulder muscles. If you have back pain, exercises that strengthen your back may help.

While not really a form of exercise, massage may also help. Find someone who knows what they are doing, or encourage your spouse or a family member or friend to learn a few massage techniques. A good massage can help keep your muscles in order.

Lighting

Eye strain is a common complaint of computer users. Avoid window and overhead lighting reflections on your monitor. An anti-glare screen may help.

Sometimes dimming the room lighting makes the computer monitor easier on the eyes. I prefer subdued lighting in my work environments, although in the publishing work that I do there are times when I need lots of light to review printed copies of my work or to proofread. In general you should not use a computer in a completely dark room; the eye strain from the monitor is too great. When you are not at your computer, the more light you have, the better. Plenty of natural light is easiest on the eyes for reading. (Note: Color control requires special lighting; D50 or 5000K lighting is the industry standard for print work. Adhering to this standard usually requires eliminating mixed lighting, including sunlight through windows. If you have a way to control your lighting — such as completely opaque blinds — or have a light box for viewing, you may be able to enjoy both comfortable and controlled lighting, as needed.)

CRT monitors flicker at high speed and contribute to eye strain, especially when used together with fluorescent lighting, which also flickers. (The flickering or screen refresh is not always noticeable to the untrained eye, but some people can feel the effect immediately.) Incandescent lighting and LCD or plasma displays will help. Another reason to dispense with your CRT is the potentially unhealthy effects of its electromagnetic radiation. The energy cost of using an LCD is less than a CRT too, something to remember if you need help convincing your accounting department.

Fresh air

In climate-controlled publishing environments, fresh air is sometimes in short supply. I find the dusty smell of heated and recirculated air unpleasant, as well as the mildewy smell that sometimes comes with air conditioning.

If you have a window in your office you are truly blessed; by all means open it once in a while and enjoy some fresh air. If you live in a city where the outdoor air is never fresh, my deepest pity extends to you.

Sometimes you just have to live with what’s available. Try to get outdoors during your breaks. If you walk briskly enough to increase the rate of your breathing, you can get enough fresh air in a short walk to carry you through the next couple hours.

Trust in God

Stress and anxiety are common in the workplace. Maybe your printer is churning out reams of ASCII text for no apparent reason. You have a disagreement with a coworker or service company. Funds are not coming in. Your computer is crashing. Your hard drive crashed…. Countless things can go wrong.

Turning to God for help, trusting that He is in control, and believing that our problems are transitory can give you peace of mind. More practically, by momentarily focusing your attention away from the problem toward the All-Sufficient One, you may find the spark of inspiration to solve your dilemma.

Even when problems persist, God can give us peace of mind to cope with them. We do not need to live under a burden. We do not need to go home with tense muscles, a headache, and our nerves twisted in knots. We can rest in the assurance that all things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28).

For further advice, I recommend perusing Ellen White’s Christian classics, Counsels on Diet and Foods and The Ministry of Healing. Although they were written in the 1800s, and thus contain no references to healthy computing habits, they do contain lots of practical, down-to-earth advice for Christians who want to live healthy and productive lives.