Freelancers are notorious for working wherever we can—at
the dining room table, sitting on the couch, or even lying in bed.
The ability to work anywhere can be incredibly freeing. You
should know, though, that not all home office spaces are created equal. If your
workspace is poorly designed, it could harm your health.
Since you spend hours in your home
office, let's make sure that office is healthy.
How Your Home Office Affects You
Your home office affects both how you feel and how much
work you get done. With a good ergonomically sound office
you'll do more and feel better doing it. Ergonomics
is the science of making objects and spaces safer and more efficient.
Studies show that workers with better designed offices tend
to get more done. For example, a year-long study conducted by the Carlson
School of Management shows that the productivity of workers who replaced their
office chairs with a treadmill improved noticeably. That's just one type of ergonomic improvement that can be made.
A poorly set up office can even affect your health. Here are
some examples of common problems:
work-related muscular skeletal disorders (WMSD)
neck strain
shoulder pain
wrist pain
lower back pain
carpal tunnel syndrome
elbow pain
eyestrain due to poor lighting
stress due to noise or clutter
weight gain due to being sedentary
You can find a more complete discussion of workplace
injuries in Office
Ergonomics: Practical solutions for a safer workplace by the WISHA Services
Division Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.
Jennifer Mattern, a freelance business writer who switched over to a standing desk, can attest
to the back pain caused by a poor workstation. She says:
Before [I went to a standing desk], I would get lower back
pain--especially when I was in one of my "workaholic" sessions.
Ergonomics makes such a difference
that the United States Department of Labor devoted an entire web page to
ergonomic success stories. It lists many organizations whose ergonomic
changes resulted in health and productivity benefits.
Many freelancers don't put much thought into their home
office set up. That's a shame since freelancers are usually paid by the work
they complete. A less productive freelancer is also a freelancer who gets paid
less.
Your Home Office Set Up
Is your home office set up ideal for your health and productivity?
New freelancers often furnish their
office with used and low cost furniture. When their freelance business grows,
they are too busy to upgrade to better furnishings. So, the old uncomfortable
office winds up staying.
There are some things you can do right now to improve your
home office ergonomics. Let's take a look at
your desk, your electronics, and your chair. Proper positioning of these
pieces can make a huge difference in your comfort. Posture is also important.
Note: I'm not a doctor. If you still have
pain after adjusting your workstation or following any of the advice in this
article, please consult a medical professional.
Your Desk
If you use a conventional desk, make sure it's high enough
so you don't have to hunch over to work. It should not be so high that your
wrists are at an uncomfortable angle. The right height varies, depending on how tall you
are.
The Mayo Clinic offers some guidance in their office
ergonomics guide. According to the guide, your desk should be up to 86cm (34in) high. Keep the space under your desk free from storage so that your
legs and feet can rest flat on the floor.
Experiment to find the right desk
height for you. When you buy a new or used desk, bring a tape measure.
Measure the height of the work surface before you make the purchase.
Electronic Equipment
If you're like most home office
workers, you have more than one device. You probably have a desktop
computer, a laptop, a tablet, and a smart phone. Your office may be set up properly for one type of device
(perhaps a desktop computer), but ignore the ergonomic risks associated with
the others.
The position of your electronic device as you work affects
your comfort. If your screen is too low (such as when you work on a tablet) you
may hunch down and wind up with back or shoulder pain. A too-high monitor could
cause neck strain.
These steps will help you work comfortably using your
electronic devices:
Choose a primary device.
Set your workspace up for the electronic device you use the most, but you
should also be able to use your other devices comfortably. Consider placing a table beside your desk for your mobile
electronic devices. If your chair has rollers, you can roll to the table to use a different device. Use stands and risers to adjust the screen
height of your mobile devices.
Examine the screen height. When you sit up straight
you should look directly at the screen. You should not have to
look up or down. If needed, use a stand or risers to raise the screen of your
device. If you have a laptop, use a separate monitor to make sure that the
screen is always at the right height.
Set the distance. Your computer should be close
enough so that you don't lean forward to work on it. You should be able to just
touch the screen with your fingertips when you sit up straight. If you
can't reach it, the screen is too far away. If your fingers extend past the
screen, you are too close.
Cnet.com offers more guidance for setting up your office in How to set up an ergonomic
workstation by Sharon Profis.
Your Chair
If you sit when you work, you spend a lot of time in your
office chair. It's important to find a chair that's comfortable and provides
you with proper back support. Freelance writer Jake Poinier agrees. He spends part of his work day standing. When he sits down it is on his
ergonomic Herman Miller Aeron chair that he picked out
secondhand a few years ago. Poinier says:
When you spend a lot of time at your desk, comfort is
important. It [my chair] is perfect for me. It has breathable fabric, and
living in Arizona as I do, that's important.
Herman Miller is one of several brands of office chairs that
focus on ergonomics and workspace comfort. Other popular ergonomic brands
include Haworth and Humanscale.
These chairs don't come cheap. The cost of a new ergonomic
chair can range from several hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars.
However, the right chair can make a real difference in productivity and
comfort.
Here's what to look for in an ergonomic chair:
adjustable height
back support, particularly the lumbar area
arm rests level with keyboard
ability to flex
Posture
An ergonomic workstation won't help if you don't pay
attention to your posture. I'm the worst at this. If I don't make a conscious
effort, I slouch in my chair while I work. Of course, an afternoon of this bad posture causes my
back to hurt.
Since I know that posture is important, I've been making a
conscious effort to pay more attention to my posture. Guess what? It works.
When I sit up straight in my chair, I have less back and neck pain. You can do
the same, here's how:
Adjust chair height and arms properly. Sit with your feet
flat on the floor.
Check your back support. If your chair does not provide
enough back support, add a pillow to help support the lumbar area.
Center your chair. You should be directly in front of
your main work screen.
Sit up straight. Don't slouch or lean. (If you need to
slouch or lean forward to see your screen, you may need to adjust your desk or
screen.)
Take regular breaks. No matter how good your posture,
it's not good to sit all the time.
What if you don't sit all day?
Some freelance professionals,
such as photographers stand a great deal. If this is you, don't be
fooled into thinking that you don't have to worry about ergonomics and posture
because you don't sit down. Check out our tutorial on ergonomics for freelance photographers for some helpful tips on how to avoid injury.
Workstation Alternatives
If you have a lot of discomfort when you work or if you worry
about being too sedentary, consider a workstation alternative. There are many
different desk arrangements for home-based computer workers. Not all those
arrangements involve a chair and desk. Here are some alternative workstation
setups:
standing desk
fitness ball chair
treadmill desk
kneeling chair
The most common option among the home based professionals I
talked to was the standing desk. Independent journalist Samantha Gluck explains why she adopted a standing desk:
I was sitting for long period of time. I was also
looking for ways to enhance my health. I thought to myself, I'll try it and if
it doesn't work for me I'll go back. I've never gone back.
In fact, Samantha has been using her standing desk for over two and a half years. Her average standing work session lasts three hours and she spends
up to five hours a day standing.
Jennifer Mattern, who has used her standing desk since 2010, averages
three to four hours a day standing, although she admits that:
I'm a bouncer. I go from chair to recliner to standing
desk and back.
Jake Poinier also uses a standing desk when he's not sitting in
his ergonomic chair. He invested in a new Ergotron WorkFit-A Sit-Stand
Workstation adjustable arm to convert his traditional desk to a standing desk a year ago.
Finding the Right Alternative
Everyone I talked to had some challenges finding the right
desk alternative. One obvious obstacle was cost. Standing desks and attachments
range in price from several hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars.
If you don't have a big budget for
furnishing your home office, you might feel that a standing desk is not for
you. You might be able to build a standing desk. Two of the home office
workers I interviewed did just that. Here's a look at their two homemade standing desks.
Samantha Gluck uses an elevated table for her keyboard
and a stack of books to hold her screen at a higher level. She
measured and set it up for her height. She also made sure that the monitor was in her
line of sight.
Jennifer Mattern built her standing desk using a storage cabinet.
On top of the cabinet she placed a modular shelving unit with little legs to
hold her laptop. To raise the laptop up even higher, she uses a scrapbooking
box.
Both measured their workstation and adjusted it at heights
that were comfortable for them. Jennifer explains:
The biggest difficulty for me was my height. I'm six
feet tall. My friend had a standing desk that I couldn't use because I'm too
tall for it. When I tested it [her desk] I realized it wouldn't work for me.
If you're making y our own standing desk, it's important to
experiment to get the right height.
If you're going to work standing up, Jennifer also recommends:
A separate keyboard for your standing desk [as opposed
to the keyboard that comes with the laptop]. My keyboard is a bluetooth keyboard
so I can use it with a laptop or a tablet.
Jake Poinier and Jennifer Mattern both mentioned the importance of getting
a mat to stand on so that your feet don't get tired.
Alternative Workstation Benefits
All three home workers agreed that
there were benefits to a standing desk. Most felt that
it was making a positive difference in their health. As Samantha Gluck stated:
I
don't have back problems or fatigue from sitting any more.
Samantha also mentioned that:
I [now] have better mental
clarity when I'm working. I focus more on my work and don't websurf at
all.
Jennifer Mattern also mentioned that she focuses better standing up and she thinks she might
know the reason why:
When you use a standing desk, I think there's a part
of us that's lazy—that wants to finish what we're doing so we can sit down
again.
Jake Poinier feels that his effectiveness at the standing desk
varies depending on what type of work he's doing:
If I need to focus, I sit. If I'm researching, I
stand.
Other home office environmental factors can also affect your
productivity and health.
Your Home Office Environment
Your home office is more than just your chair, your monitor,
or your workstation. To have
a healthy home office set up, look at your whole working environment.
Factors like the amount of light or noise in your office can also affect how
you feel.
Lighting
According to How Lighting Affects the
Productivity of Your Workers from
Vivian Giang on the MBA@UNC (Masters of Business Administration University of
North Carolina blog), lighting definitely affects productivity. The article
points out that both the type and amount of light in an office space are
important.
Exposure to outdoor light is important too. I worked indoors for years in an office with no window, so I
know the difference a window can make. When I couldn't see a window
from my workstation, I often lost track of time as I worked. I also felt more
anxious and restless.
It turns out that studies back up my longing for a window.
According to a Northwestern University study, workers who are exposed
to natural light during the workday enjoy better health and a better quality of
life.
When you choose a room in your home to work from, choose
your light sources carefully. Also, give some thought to whether there's a
window in the room.
Noise
You may already know that noise can distract you when you're
trying to work. Did you know that too much noise is also bad for your health?
Very loud noises can damage your eardrums and even lead to
partial deafness. Most of us probably don't face that type of noise in our home
offices, but even lower level noise can be a problem. For
example, living and working near a busy street can cause stress leading to heart disease,
irritability, and even sleep problems.
Health problems due to noise are extremely common. According
to the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe:
Traffic noise alone is harmful to the health of almost every third person
in the WHO European Region.
If your office is particularly noisy, take some steps to
block the noise. Accoustic tiles and added insulation can help. Also soft
furnishings such as carpeting, curtains, and upholstery help to absorb the
noise.
Conclusion
A healthier office can help you feel better and get more
done. Learning about potential health problems and what to do about them is the
first step in creating a healthier home office workspace.
References
Photo Credit, standing desk with person: Photograph from Samantha Gluck of Freelance Writing Dreams.
Photo Credit, standing desk without person: Photograph from Jennifer Mattern of All Indie Writers.
Graphic Credit: Laptop Stand icon designed by Patrick Multani from the Noun Project.