How to best adapt your home study corner for teleworking? Five practical tips for those who are struggling with smart working and how not to tire our body and eyes in front of the computer.
1. Prepare the workplace
First, we must make sure that we have everything we need in our study corner: we need an uncluttered work surface that is and large enough to hold computer, mouse, notebook and binders (if needed), our wrists and possibly a lamp.
As a second indication, we must focus our attention on a correct lighting of the room in which we work: the light -natural or artificial- must never be much higher than the brightness of our screen –let’s avoid the very strong white light effect typical of the old neon lit offices. Place the computer so that the natural light source is on the sides of the screen to avoid reflections on the display or having a too powerful source in front of us.
2. Screen: brightness adjustment and distance to be kept
Our screens and displays (smart TVs, tablets, smartphones and computers) emit blue light that can influence our circadian rhythm and therefore make our sleep worse. This is why it is important to protect us from blue light by activating the night light settings (on Mac or Windows) and graduate the colours of the display from cold (blue) to warm (yellow):
Win10 settings:
go to “Night light settings”> Click on “Turn on now”> Select “From sunset to sunrise” (for automatic activation).
Apple settings:
go to “System Preferences”> Select “Monitor”> Select “Night Shift”> Select from the drop-down menu “From sunset to sunrise” (for automatic activation).
What to do to keep an optimal distance from the screen?
The Italian decree regulating health and safety in the workplace (n. 81 of April 9th, 2008) speaks of “an eye distance of about 50-70 cm”. This is a very difficult distance to be kept for those who have to write, but which can be easily respected when we have to make more passive use of smart working, for example when we participate in a video conference or we follow a video course.
3. Don’t tire your eyes
For those who have to spend a whole standard working day in front of a display, it is also good to put in place some tips in order not to tire the eyes too much:
Moisten the eyes: those who work on the computer blink less often, which is why every 20-30 minutes we must remember to slowly blink a dozen times.
Training the eyes: to avoid tiredness we must train with small tricks of “gymnastics” for the ocular well-being. It is sufficient to take a short break every 20 minutes and observe an object at least 5-6 meters away, or get up and go to the window or balcony and gaze at the landscape.
4. The right posture
If we spend 6 to 8 hours at a worktable, let’s try to avoid bad habits. Above all, do not stand still for 3-4 hours in a row and do not gobble up.
Instead, try to keep your back as straight as possible (even if you don’t have an ergonomic chair), relax your shoulders and keep them open wide, making sure that your eyes and chin are not too low compared to the screen – lift the computer until it is at eye level. Do not cross your legs, and always keep your feet flat on the ground – lift the computer until it is at eye level. Do not cross your legs, and always keep your feet flat on the ground – perhaps with the help of footrests).
5. Exercises to do
Finally, we must dedicate at least 3-4 long breaks during the day to some exercises for the back and posture. On the internet we can find many tutorials and short videos. Among these, we highlight the following:
– Exercises via MedStar Health YouTube Channel
– More exercises at McGill Athletics
– A guide to some simple stretches at HuffPo
Target Point, Italian Ideas