Do's and dont's for long time sitting?

I had a intern for over 6 months outside my house. This means almost no sitting and 8 hours a day standing and walking. Since 2 weeks I'm back to school and this means I'm also back in my chair at home for over 6 hours a day. A few days ago my back started to hurt, and since the recent 'glasses thread' I am searching for people who have experience and/or can recommend me a few things. Things that are happening to me more and more often are headaches, my back that is hurting, sometimes a bit blurry vision in 1 eye. (Not sure if this is related or was a 1/2 time thing.)

Hopefully also someone who can recommend me a good and comfy chair that is reasonable cheap including shipping. (I'm living in the Netherlands)

TL;DR are there any big do's or don't when talking about this topic?
 

Don't sit more than an hour straight, stand up, walk around and stretch for at least 15 minutes.

Close your eyes and rotate them clockwise for 15 times and counter clockwise for an another 15 times every 2 hours or so.

Don't drink cold drinks.

Don't look at 1000 monitors, the lesser the screens, the better.

Drink warm drinks if you're in an air conditioned room.

Refrain from drinking coffee or any energy drinks in the afternoon or at night.

The more comfortable your chair is, the more likely you won't move your ass.

Go to the /out/doors once a week for at least 4 hours.

Total exercise time per week must be at least 3 hours.

Have fixed meal times, don't eat too much or too less and chew at least 20 times per mouthful.

Have a balanced diet.

For long-term sitting, I usually sit crosslegged instead of letting my legs hang off the end of the chair.  Sitting this way also tends to enforce better posture, and makes it harder to fall asleep which is a good thing.

@GIANT_CRAB

Thanks

@kaniini

I tried it a few times, it requires a bit flexibility but once you get used to it I can understand it is better. Will try it out the next couple days.

Your blurry vision's probably contributing to the headaches. If you can, get someone to randomly take pics of you working at the computer from the side. You don't want to see any cantilevering. I,e slouching, leaning forward, arms outstretched etc. The bulk of your torso mass should be right over your pelvis. You can't do too much about you arms but the upper arm is dead weight so the closest it is to neutral support position, the better. Out stretched arms will pull on the entire set of muscles along the back of your spine.


Your bones are your friends.

my back that is hurting, sometimes a bit blurry vision in 1 eye

Back issues are pretty much the link to many things being wrong.   Typically at the core of this is nutrition.  Most techtards love consuming food that kills perfectly healthy people.

First step in my world would be to get proper nutrition supplementation.   This would be quality vitamins and minerals throughout the day.  Clean mineralized (non carbonated) water is really important also - hydration.

Carbonation supposedly steals minerals from bones.   Refined white things like sugar and flour do the same.  All should be accompanied as in nature with the vitamins and minerals that make them complete instead of their cheap garbage stripped versions.

So if drowning in Big Gulps, 2 liters of soda, etc. stop - drink tea, water, coffee instead.

Ergonomics are important and change often based on your own stress, posture, changing body composition, etc.  So, make your work space flexible.  I have 4 different workstation areas with different types of work surfaces.  I have a standing desk I like quite a bit, a very high sit down desk (that is under revision), a traditional computer desk which is laughable and a workbench area that is meh, annoying.

If there is truly a summary it is ---- in moderation and variety.   Computing time and desk work should be balanced with activity and living.  Getting up from the desk and stretching is mandatory and do so rather often.  Otherwise repetitive stress injuries happen.

There is a thread on vpsBoard I believe where some chairs are recommended.   You want a chair with a breathable and flexible back.  Must have adjustable task style arms, not the rounded business idiot slacker arms.   Should have 3-5 adjustments in the base of the seat for height, pitch and back tilt.

In the States office retailer Staples has house chair that fits the bill ~ $180 and I believe reduce in past 6 months to around $100.  Herman Miller has ever popular selection of decent chairs swear by (they aren't cheap).  Other competitors out there.  Best to test drive such in person and I've often over the years dealt with real office companies for such.  They tend to have better variety and provide accessories, delivery and other forms of support the discount box retailers don't.

Don't sit more than an hour straight, stand up, walk around and stretch for at least 15 minutes.

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Riiiight.  For every hour you sit at work, get up and stretch for 15 minutes.  So you are only working 45 minutes out of every hour?  Maybe if you work at Google or you're willing to stay at work for 10+ hours.

Don't drink cold drinks.

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These is an old wives' tale.  There's nothing wrong with drinking cold drinks.  Nothing.  

I think the answer is "get up and walk around sometimes, be otherwise healthy".  The "15 of every hour" is impossible but I generally am up and around at some point during an hour, take the stairs, go for a walk at lunch, exercise when not at work, etc.

One other one that has not been mentioned: GO TO THE FREAKIN' DOCTOR.  You have partial blurry vision?  I'd have already made an appointment.  Sheesh.

Agree with raindog, get a checkup ASAP.

Headaches aside, your spine and eye health are integral for everything from working to studying to being able to tell hot chicks from not-so-hot chicks.

Lots of stuff can go wrong with your spine when you're abusing it. People haven't been sitting on their asses all day long enough to evolve into a great sitting species. I abused the shit out of my back in the early 20s, starting from an insane desk job in the military, continuous 10- to 36-hour gaming fests after discharge, right on to lots of gaming + studying / very little sleeping after returning to school, not bothering to eat, using bad posture, sleeping in retarded places.

Some bad scoliosis came along (spine curving sideways, in my case in an S-shape) that would just not let me sit without pain for more than an hour. I had to withdraw from school again, and it took 6 months of seeing the chiropractor 3 times a week to get the angles fixed enough for the pain to not be a constant distraction, plus everything I could do about my body positions to keep the left and right halves symmetrical. Then I saw different chiropractors once every couple weeks for 3 years or so to keep the spine in check.

But scoliosis is slow and in most cases only causes a lot of muscle-related pain. Please go get a checkup and make sure you don't have something more serious like a pinched nerve or small brain tumor. Hopefully nothing's wrong, but you never know. Guy I know started getting blurry vision a few months back, then hearing loss, and it turns out he had 3 brain tumors.

If you're having eye strain issues, try using f.lux and a pair of gunnars (http://www.gunnars.com/). They've both helped a ton for long hours in front of multiple monitors.

I agree about the blurry vision, especially since it is in one eye only, you must see a doctor. Might be much worse than you think. 

As for posture, I sit in my hard bed crosslegged for hours. At my former job I was sitting in a chair and ended up with headaches and dizziness, this does not happen now. Also the keyboard s on the bed and I rest my hands on my legs, but that might not be available to everyone as I have really long hands and legs, I am taller than most people but sitting they are most times taller than me. Maybe for this reason I never managed to keep the keyboard on the table, it creates a lot of strain and uncomfortable position os hands.

I go in tens of kilometers trips every couple of weeks in the mountains, 30 Km in 2 days is the bare minimum, add the backpack(s) (long story) and the heavy clothing for this weather, even tent and tablets, phablets, even EEEPC at times, thermos, drink, food, it is quite an exercise, especially on slippery ice and in half a meter snow. I go once every few days buy groceries at distant shops also every day buy bread and vegetables close.

I cook own food with natural ingredients most of the time, avoid processed meat, but do eat yoghurt, butter, cheese, even pork grilled, but usually it is chicken lower legs with mexican mix steamed only.

Now I have a white fish soup with a lot of potatoes, mashed carrots, onions, some peas and other roots most local here. Add to this carrot salad (grated) with a bit of olives oil, some sauce from the preserved cucumbers and a bit of salt. It fills you gives a lot of nutrients of many kindsand is healthy. As a desert pancakes with home-made jam. Many times just "clementines", dunno how to translate in English, they were very good this year.

Maybe you should visit a GP (huisarts). For the lower back pains I can recommend a standing desk. I'm working on my standing desk the whole day, now for over a year and a half. Started because my back pains were getting worse, even on my Yoga Ball. It took about two months, then my back pains were getting less. 4 months in and everything was gone.

I understand this can be hard at school. Most of my clients find it fine, I always take my own standing desk. I use the standesk 2200, about 12 euro's at Ikea:



It fits on a desk and it is cheap enough to make on for every client I work.

But still, visit your GP. You are too young to have those issues. Get outside more, eat more healthy, drink less sugary stuff (energy drinks/soda), those things are overall good for your health.

Mao_Member_no_signature said:

Many times just "clementines", dunno how to translate in English, they were very good this year.

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They're still called clementines in English . More generally they're just a specific hybrid breed of orange.

Thank you for the worries. But I'm not going to see a doctor for something that happend to me 2 times. However, if it happens a third time I will.


Also I'm using flux since a few days, on my pc, phone and ipad. I don't notice any direct changes but I do notice it is allot softer for my eyes.

raindog308 said:

Riiiight.  For every hour you sit at work, get up and stretch for 15 minutes.  So you are only working 45 minutes out of every hour?  Maybe if you work at Google or you're willing to stay at work for 10+ hours.

These is an old wives' tale.  There's nothing wrong with drinking cold drinks.  Nothing.  

I think the answer is "get up and walk around sometimes, be otherwise healthy".  The "15 of every hour" is impossible but I generally am up and around at some point during an hour, take the stairs, go for a walk at lunch, exercise when not at work, etc.

One other one that has not been mentioned: GO TO THE FREAKIN' DOCTOR.  You have partial blurry vision?  I'd have already made an appointment.  Sheesh.

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Sorry, but my advice wasn't "old wives tale" but was based on traditional medical science. (Traditional Science from China has thousands of years of history, therefore I believe in it, not sure about you though.)

They are proven to be effective measures to stay healthy. But in practice, if you can't get up every hour for 15 minutes, then 5 minutes should do fine. However, its a must to stand up every hour.

It makes a major difference in your health and don't overwork yourself, sleep early (before 11pm).

GIANT_CRAB said:

Don't sit more than an hour straight, stand up, walk around and stretch for at least 15 minutes.

Close your eyes and rotate them clockwise for 15 times and counter clockwise for an another 15 times every 2 hours or so.

Don't drink cold drinks.

Don't look at 1000 monitors, the lesser the screens, the better.

Drink warm drinks if you're in an air conditioned room.

Refrain from drinking coffee or any energy drinks in the afternoon or at night.

The more comfortable your chair is, the more likely you won't move your ass.

Go to the /out/doors once a week for at least 4 hours.

Total exercise time per week must be at least 3 hours.

Have fixed meal times, don't eat too much or too less and chew at least 20 times per mouthful.

Have a balanced diet.

Click to expand...

hahahah good advice crab, very good points, maybe an hour a day outside might be better?

At work I sit at a computer for anywhere from 8 - 10 hours a day, normally I just go into the kitchen on our floor every 20 - 30 mins and get some water, also I normally set my brightness on my two monitors to 0 but had been getting headaches, so last week I set it to 50 and had been fine.


Can be really small things that affect you, get everything right and you'll have a comfortable workstation, it does take time though, it taken me 5 months.

If you're getting headaches/eyestrain from the monitor brightness, get a desk lamp and point it at the wall behind the monitor for bias lighting (some go as far as to get LED kits).

Since I created this topic I started using f.lux. Also installed it on my ipad and so far my sleep got allot better, pretty much no headaches anymore or bad sight. So far I'm doing good (Ignore the fact that my girlfriend broke up with me), I only need to buy a new chair soon.

Alot of nice points in here, sitting down 8-10 hours a day for 5-6 days a week is not healthy, i do alot what the others say, regular breaks, have a walk etc.