In both your home and office, these ergonomic items are essential to a healthy work life. See what’s available to upgrade your office space!
86% of American workers sit all day long at work.
If you’re spending most of your time sitting at a desk, it’s absolutely essential for both your mental and physical health that you have a comfortable and correct posture while working at your desk.
So how can you set up your home and office to be as ergonomic as possible?
Let’s take a look at 9 essential items to increase the health of your work life.
1. Adjustable Desk
Experts at MEC confirm that having a suitable desk is the first step in creating an ergonomic home office.
Most desks are designed to be at a height that is better for writing than for typing.
If you aren’t in a place to splurge for a sit-to-stand desk, at least make sure your sitting desk fits you comfortably.
There needs to be clearance for your knees, thighs, and feet underneath the desk.
The ideal placement of your arms is for your wrists to be straight and your hands to be at or below the level of your elbows.
Without an adjustable desk, there are some hacks you can make. A desk that is too short can be propped up on sturdy boards or blocks.
If your desk is too tall, you’ll need a chair that can be raised higher.
The ideal ergonomic desk, however, is the adjustable, sit-to-stand style.
This allows you to switch between a sitting position and a standing position. When using a desk in the standing position, a desk mat is a great addition to reduce fatigue.
It isn’t particularly healthy to stand all day or to sit all day, so this home office staple offers you a solution.
2. Ergonomic Office Chair
One of the essential items of any ergonomic office is your chair. A well-built office chair will allow you to fully adjust the seat depth, height, tilt, and armrests.
Getting an office chair with all of these features can cost you a pretty penny, but it can be well worth it to ensure that you have proper desk posture.
Your chair should support the curves of your spine.
Adjust the chair’s height so that your feet are resting flat on the floor and your thighs are parallel to the floor. If this isn’t possible, use a footrest.
When adjusting the armrests, you want to position them so that your arms gently rest on them when you have relaxed shoulders.
The comfort of your chair is absolutely essential to your overall working comfort.
Using something like the Everlasting Comfort memory foam cushion can take your home and office comfort to the next level.
3. Adjustable Keyboard and Mouse Tray
When you’re typing or using your mouse, you want your wrists to be straight, your upper arms to be close to your body, and your hands to be at the same level or slightly below your elbows.
An adjustable keyboard and mouse tray can help you to avoid wrist pain and accommodate you if you choose to work standing up.
4. Ergonomic Keyboard
Ergonomic keyboards are specifically built to support a neutral wrist position.
This helps you prevent holding your arms, wrists, and hands in awkward positions throughout the day.
If you have carpal tunnel syndrome or other computer-related issues, using an ergonomic keyboard can help alleviate your pain.
While you’re optimizing your keyboard situation, you might consider switching to using key-commands on your keyboard rather than your mouse when possible.
This can make your workflow much smoother and avoid the strain of switching between your mouse and keyboard too often.
5. Portable Laptop Stand
Sometimes it’s good to have a change in scenery, especially when working. Being able to take your laptop to the library or a coffee shop is a great aspect of working from home.
However, if you don’t take the time to create an ergonomic portable setup for yourself, you may be doing more harm than good.
Using a portable laptop stand can ensure that you keep the top of the screen at eye-level. You also want the screen to be about an arm’s length away.
This avoids the all-too-common problem of slouching forward over our laptops.
A portable laptop stand can also just be a part of your home office if you don’t have a larger monitor that you use.
6. FootRest and Standing Desk Mat
The best posture for sitting at a desk includes keeping your feet flat on the floor.
However, sometimes this isn’t possible due to either the height of your desk or the height of your chair. That’s when footrests come in.
There are a number of different kinds of footrests you can purchase so that your feet aren’t dangling in the air.
You can also try and DIY a solution by using a stack of books or a small stool.
If you’re going to be standing while working or switching between sitting and standing, you might consider getting a standing desk mat.
This will allow you to stand comfortably and encourage movement.
7. Appropriate Lighting
Having an ergonomic workspace isn’t just about your furniture.
The lighting of a room and of the environment around you at large is also a part of creating the ideal ergonomic workspace.
Ensuring that the room is properly lit can prevent your eyes from squinting or having to slouch towards the screen to see better.
It also allows you to adjust the computer screen to softer lights that don’t negatively affect your eyesight as much.
Having the right lighting isn’t just about your eyes and your posture, though.
Lighting can also have a significant impact on your concentration, productivity, and mood.
You may also want to utilize natural light if possible.
This is because natural light can help regulate your body’s natural circadian rhythms, which improves your sleep and leads to better overall satisfaction and productivity.
8. Monitor Arm
If you’re using a desktop or an external monitor as a part of your home office setup, you’ll probably want a monitor arm or a similar product.
This allows you to position the screen in the right spot to keep you in proper posture.
It also means that you can easily move the monitor around if you like to switch your position throughout the workday.
9. Additional Perks
While it’s important that you get the basic office items situated in your office first and foremost, there are a lot of additional items you might add to boost your mood, productivity, and experience of the day.
When we think of the word ergonomic, our minds often jump to chairs that support proper posture.
The actual definition of the word, however, means “relating to or designed for efficiency and comfort in the working environment.”
This means that anything that can help you be more efficient and comfortable in your office is technically ergonomic.
Neat!
So what else can you add to your workspace to make it as ergonomic as possible?
A lot of things. Consider getting some plants for your office, which can increase your happiness, improve productivity, and reduce stress.
How about a yoga mat?
People are becoming increasingly aware of how important it is to take short breaks and move around, both for our physical and mental health.
What if you had a yoga mat handy so that you could do a few sun salutations in between Zoom calls?
Another thing you might consider investing in is a good pair of speakers.
If you are working from the comfort of your own home, you don’t have to worry about bothering your co-worker in the next cubicle.
Instead, you can utilize the power of music to improve your productivity and your mood.
Something we often don’t think about when we’re setting up our home office is the scent.
Have you considered getting an essential oil diffuser or some incense?
Believe it or not, you can use aromatherapy to boost your productivity, improve your mood, and reduce your stress.
If your home office doesn’t have natural light, or you’re prone to seasonal affective disorder, you might consider getting a light therapy lamp for your office.
Up Your Productivity and Your Comfort In Your Home and Office
When you spend as many hours a week doing something as Americans do working, you want to make sure you’re doing it right.
Your home and office should be set up for maximum comfort and productivity, helping you have the best possible day every day.
As noted by an ergonomics expert from Posturion, sitting is not the healthiest thing out there. As we sit longer and longer sitting for too long or with improper posture can lead to a long list of adverse health effects, a phenomenon known as “Sitting Disease.”
At the same time, exclusively standing isn’t necessarily the answer, as standing too much can double your risk for heart disease.
Essentially, the answer is to frequently be moving around a little bit, and ensuring that your standing and sitting postures are in proper form.
Did you find this article about home office ergonomics helpful?
If so, be sure to check out the rest of our blog for more helpful articles!