1 Let comfort be your guide

Scan for awkwardness and adjust for comfort

Whenever you use a computer, you make decisions that can affect your comfort, health, safety, and productivity. This is true whether you use a desktop keyboard and monitor in an office, a notebook computer in a college dormitory, a tablet in the kitchen, or a handheld computer at the airport. In every case, you choose your body’s position relative to the technology.

Whether you are working, studying, or playing, staying in one position for long periods can cause discomfort and fatigue in your muscles and joints. Rather than computing in a single seated posture, move regularly through a range of seated and standing positions, finding your comfort zone in each of them. Many people do not naturally incorporate a standing posture into the range of positions because it is unfamiliar. With practice, however, they realize how much better they feel when they move from sitting to standing throughout the day.

RIGHT Upright

RIGHT Reclined

RIGHT Standing

There is no one “right” position that fits all people and all tasks; no one set-up that is comfortable for all body parts. Replace the “set it and forget it” mentality with “scan for awkwardness and adjust for comfort.” Understand the connection between your body and the technology, and decide what to move and when. Sometimes you need to change your posture; sometimes you need to adjust the technology; sometimes you need to do both.

Scan your body regularly for non-movement, awkward posture, tension, clenching, and shallow breathing. Be especially vigilant when working on difficult, intense tasks or under a tight deadline. Pay

Scan for awkwardness and adjust for comfort

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