Hi, welcome to Computer Comfort! Would you do me a favor and talk about and download this file at every opportunity? Thanks so much, Lyn Bailey. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Computer Comfort ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Welcome to a discussion on how computer related discomforts can be prevented. Often times, simply adjusting your posture and the position of your equipment can reduce or completely eliminate pain and injury. Sitting is one of the most stressful body positions for your neck and lower back. Here are a few ways to help that: * Sit with your feet flat on the floor. * Adjust your chair so that your knees are slightly higher than your hips. * Sit firmly against the back of your chair with your lower back supported. If you have lower back problems, ask a chiropractor about a lumbar support for your car and home. Correct posture can prevent tension and fatigue. Many people are having difficulties due to incorrect monitor position. Place your monitor directly in front of you, as low as possible, even recessed into the desk. ############################################################ Take A Break! By taking a break every half hour, you will actually accomplish more in a day. For more energy, do the following exercises: Press your forehead into your palms, resisting forward motion with your hands. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds. Clasp your hands behind your head and press your head back. Resist any motion with your hands, holding for 15 seconds. Turn your head to one side, resisting any motion with your hand. Switch sides and hold for the same amount of time on each side. Then, tilt your head to one side, resisting any movement with your hand, again, holding the position for 10-15 seconds on each side. Step away from your desk for awhile. While standing, shrug your shoulders up to your ears, hold 10 seconds, then release. Repeat 3 times. Rotate each shoulder separately forward and backward for 15-20 seconds each. Shake your hands out. Shake your whole body. This will boost your circulation and help avoid stiff muscles. To avoid a stiff neck, slowly drop your head fully forward, then backward (only to point of discomfort, each for 10 seconds.) Then tilt forward and rotate 4 times to each side. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& You Can Prevent Injury And Stress You hear so much about how to treat RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury), Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and other computer users' physical injuries and complaints these days. What about prevention? Isn't it better to do something before, rather than after the pain sets in? An injury that has gone on for too long without being treated could put you out of work. Suppose you love to play tennis or write, a serious injury would keep you from doing it. Before telling you more about how to avoid stress and injury, I'd like to give you some information about Repetitive Stress Injuries. You can type more than 12,000 strokes per hour; causing strain and swelling of the tendons in your wrists and hands. That inflammation can pinch the main nerve that runs through a passage in the wrist (the carpal tunnel). The symptoms are: now-and-then or constant tingling and numbness in the hands, loss of feeling, muscle strength, swelling, pain or clumsiness while using your hands or intense pain in the fingers, wrists, forearms and shoulders. That pain can cause a permanent disability if you procrastinate seeing your doctor. So, see your doctor upon the earliest symptoms. Catch it before it's chronic, you may even be able to reverse it. It can drastically affect finger coordination, also, Some men are unable to grasp their wallets sufficiently enough to get them out of their back pockets. Extreme cases require surgery to cut the carpal ligament. Women are two to five times more at risk to suffer from CTD than men. "Cumulative Trauma Disorders have become the nation's leading cause of occupational illnesses." says Sharon Danann, research director of 9 to 5, the National Association of Working Women. And in the 1990's, they will account for one half of all job related disorders." Approximately a fifth of the LA Times' editorial staff have had CTD symptoms. We aren't physically equipped to handle thousands of repetitive motions an hour. Not just computer users are at risk. Anyone who uses their hands in the same way for a long time are. Retail and grocery clerks, mail workers, gardeners, musicians, and factory and assembly line people have CTD complaints. These injuries often respond to heat and ice treatments, massage, physical therapy and rest if caught soon enough. Stretches and exercises focusing on flexibility and strength building are also effective. Braces or wrist splints can protect injured tendons and force larger muscles to carry more of the load. If you have any RSI symptoms, all the experts say to rest. Either take time off from your job, or drastically lessen the workload. Just four hours per week is enough to cause a significant injury if you are working at a poorly designed or adjusted workstation. According to numerous sources and research, the most effective prevention technique is to simply take regular breaks. With the old-timey typewriters, there were natural breaks, like putting in new paper and carriage returns. Today, it's non-stop and high-speed; which puts more wear and tear on hands and wrists and there is no recovery time. There are existing computer programs that will interrupt your work to let you know it's time to rest and stretch. You can set your digital watch or clock to go off at regular intervals. During your break, relax your hands. Let them go limp, shake them out, massage them, anything but bending, twisting or straining your wrists or fingers. Use your entire hand while picking things up, not just the thumb and forefinger. Keep your palms up off the keyboard. The easiest way to do this is with wrist rests. Position your tilting keyboard so your elbows are bent at 90 degree angles and your wrists are at 10 to 20 degrees from horizontal. Before you positioning, be sure your shoulders are relaxed and not up to your ears! Also, hit the keys as lightly as possible. It doesn't take great force to depress a computer key. Situate the computer monitor 15 to 30 degrees below eye level; never above eye level. Put it 24 or more inches from where you sit. Stay at least four feet away from the back sides of other monitors in your workplace. No one yet knows just how harmful monitor radiation is to users' health. Anti-radiation screens can help, but block only electric fields at very low frequency (VLF) levels and extremely low frequency (ELF) levels. They do not block magnetic fields, which is thought to be a more serious danger. For more information on the exposure hazards of magnetic fields, read Paul Brodeaus' "Currents of Death." Instead of laying papers flat, use a document holder next to the screen. Take a 15 minute rest after two hours under a moderate workload, and after one hour if you have a heavy workload. Looking at a computer screen can lead to eyestrain. Concentrating on the screen reduces blinking, which dries your eyes, especially if you have contacts. It can also cause irritation, blurred vision, headaches, muscle tension and joint pain. To minimize this strain, keep your neck relaxed, your chin slightly down and tucked in, your head straight ahead. Do not slouch! It compresses the spinal nerves, unduly stresses the spine, causes muscle tension, headache strain, foggy thinking, and fatigue. Have someone who knows about posture show you how to sit if necessary. Slouchy posture and poor body mechanics while word processing, probably causes more muscle and joint pain and problems than anything else. While computing, be sure the lighting is correct. Bad lighting can cause irritating glare. Anti-glare filters that fit over your screen, indirect lighting, non-reflecting glass screens can prevent glare and minimize eyestrain. Remind yourself to blink frequently to keep your eyes moist and comfortable during long stretches of work. Tell yourself: "I am relaxing my eyes," or anything else that will help you to stop staring the computer down. Be sure the chair has an adjustable seat pan, so that there is an angle between the thigh and spine. For people working with keyboards for extended time periods, it's best to angle the seat down in front. Arm rests ought to be adjustable and removable. The best chair swivels and moves. The seat height and the backrest needs to be adjustable. Also, be sure it is laterally adjustable. When purchasing a chair, ask a lot of questions and be sure it fills your needs. While sitting in your new chair, check your posture often, making sure lower back is firmly against the chair back, take breaks regularly, and keep your feet flat on the floor. Use a foot rest, if necessary. Remember to breathe deeply (have proper ventilation so you can). Remember, if you are experiencing any numbness, pain or tingling, see your health practitioner immediately! You will gain by saving yourself pain and $15 to 20 thousand dollars for surgery! <----------------------------<>-----------------------------> LCD vs CRT Monitors - Which Is Safer? The two types of computer displays (monitors) in common use today are called CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), which resemble tv sets, and LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) which are most often found on laptop and notebook computers. The CRT has been accused of being a possible health hazard. The reasons are that it emits high and low-frequency electromagnetic waves, that it emits ultraviolet light radiation, and that it is hard to look at. Whether or not these are dangers has not yet been agreed upon. Just in case they turn out to be a problem, LCD displays ought to be looked into in the meantime. The CRT uses "guns" to shoot streams of electrons from it's back to the front of the tube where they crash into a layer of chemical that transforms the energy of the crashes to light. This takes a lot of high-voltage electricity to control. The electrons are being shot directly at your eyes, with only a layer of glass to stop them. Do you suppose all the sub-molecular material is stopped by the glass? So far, no one knows. The LCD display does not project light, it reflects it. Technically, whatever light is in the area in which you are working is either absorbed by the dark areas of the screen, or reflected by the light areas. The amount of electricity to control the darkness of the screen is very low. However, since the ambient light is often not sufficient, the LCD is augmented by one or two fluorescent light tubes at the sides of the screen. These also use high-voltage, high-frequency electricity, but far less than a CRT. While you can easily stay at least two feet away from a typical CRT, it is hard to get far away from your laptop computer and still reach the keyboard. So, although the fluorescent lighting in the laptop puts out far less electromagnetic radiation than the CRT, it still puts it out! When you get two feet away from a CRT, the amount of radiation it produces is nearly undetectable by present-day measuring instruments. Although no one I know has measured the radiation coming from a laptop's LCD, it may be undetectable within an eighth of an inch which would probably be safe. It is generally agreed that the display device be placed somewhat below eye level. Conveniently, the LCD in laptops, ends up in this position. The laptop is also easier to move forward or back, put on a book, move to another desk, etc. Taking this a step further, you can avoid discomfort or injury resulting from an incorrect posture, by moving from one location to another during the course of your workday. You can even set the laptop on a high table or shelf and work while standing. Another reason that the LCD may be the display of choice is that its pixels, the individual dots of which the image is composed, are square, and clearly delimited. The CRT uses rather fuzzy round dots. Your eyes can find an exact focus on the square LCD pixels, but can never be quite sure if they have the CRT in focus. This means your eyes may be constantly straining to get the CRT in proper focus. ............................................................ Remember To Relax Your Eyes To prevent eyestrain, "palm" your eyes every hour. This is done by first getting into a reclining or lying down position, rubbing your hands until heat is generated, then by placing your palms over your eyes, your right hand slightly over your left. Leave them there while breathing naturally, deeply and fully for 3-5 minutes. This is very calming. Relaxing the eyes relaxes you body and mind. ************************************************************ CRT Radiation - Is It Safe Enough? So far, no one knows if the electrical field around computers can cause biological damage. The radiation your monitor emits, however, is said to be in the "safe" range. Still, "buyer be aware." Here are some of the health problems that are linked to extensive computer use: Pregnancy disorders - A possible increased risk of miscarriage or birth defects. Radiation and on-the-job emotional and physical stress has been suggested to be a possible explanation for this. Very controlled studies have not confirmed the connection, although. Cataracts - Radiation from your computer screen has not been found to cause them. The levels known to cause cataracts are 10,000 times higher than those coming from a computer monitor. ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(*)()()()()()()()()()()()()()() More Prevention Techniques By doing the following, you'll prevent a great deal of tension and pain right from your desk! Reach behind your chair and interlace fingers. Slowly lift chin up while looking at the ceiling. This will stretch the neck, shoulders and chest. Place your arms and hands, palms down, on desk, roll to the right. Lower and repeat with right elbow. With feet flat, reach left arm over right shoulder and right arm over left shoulder. Pull left shoulder towards your right side, while turning head to the left. Repeat on opposite side. If you have a home office, do yoga, improvised stretches, or the following technique called progressive relaxation (best done while lying down.) Beginning with feet, say: My feet are heavy and relaxed, I am now relaxing my feet. My feet are relaxed. Then move up to your calves, thighs, you get the picture, until you've covered every part of your body. When you get to your head say: I am now relaxing my forehead, I am now relaxing my entire head. Now, I will relax my mind, etc. Repeat the phrase 2-4 times. Do this at least once a day. It can be done in three minutes. However; it's most effective when you take 5-10 minutes. ------------------------------------------------------------ More Ways To Prevent Stress Press your forehead into your palms resisting forward motion with your hands. Hold for 15-30 seconds. Clasp your hands behind your head and press your head back. Resist any motion with your hands, holding for 20 seconds. Turn your head to one side, resisting any motion with your hand. Switch sides and hold for same amount of time on each side. Then, tilt head to one side, resisting any movement with your hand, again, holding the position for 10-20 seconds on each side. To reduce neck and shoulder soreness and stiffness, do these with a straight spine while sitting: 1. Slowly drop your head fully forward, then backward. Then tilt, then rotate to each side. Hold each position for 10-15 seconds. 2. Turn your head as far to the right as you comfortably can. Then, hold for 5 seconds. Please repeat the above for the other side. Continue until you feel an easing of tension. 3. Complete by grasping as much of the top of your left shoulder you can with your right hand, squeeze firmly for 7 seconds and let go quickly. Repeat on other shoulder. Do each shoulder 3 times. While doing the following, breathe deeply, without strain. Shrug your shoulders up to your ears and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat this three times. Simultaneously rotate your shoulders forward and backwards for 30 seconds or as long as desired. Repeat these exercises several times during the day. While standing, stretch arms straight up over your head, hold 3 seconds, then cross your right arm in front of your left arm and vice-versa, 3-5 times. Repeat it in the opposite way. Then, lower arms to your side, place behind your back and repeat the above sequence. Anytime you want to feel calmer and focused, close your eyes, inhale through your nose and exhale out your mouth very slowly at least four times. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>=<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Already Stressed? - Relax Yourself With Self-Massage Self-massage very effectively lessens stress, slows the heart rate, strengthens the immune system, and increases blood and oxygen flow to the body and brain. Massage slows nervous impulses in the muscle tissue, bringing pain relief. Used daily, it can relieve chronic stress and depression. This massage technique will loosen tight muscles: Using a kneading motion, gently massage the face, then the scalp, working down through the neck, shoulders, arms, lower back, legs, and feet. Work gradually from lighter to deeper pressure in the direction of the blood flow to remove lactic acid and toxins. Massage each area for two minutes. Always use oil to avoid skin irritation. To alleviate stress and depression, press the following points for 10-30 seconds each: 1. Press the point in the center of the top of the back of the neck. 2. Press the point on your abdomen one and a half inches below the navel. 3. Press the points below and on the inside corner of the fingernails of the middle fingers. 4. Place four fingers into the middle hollow of the top of the back of neck and rub clockwise for one minute. 5. Press the points right below and to the inside corner of the fingernails of the small fingers. 6. Bend your head to the chest. Place your hand on the back of your neck and find the large gap along the spine located below the base of neck. From this area count one vertebra down and massage the point (often tender) at the bottom of shoulder blades. 7. Complete by cupping your right or left hand across the back of your head starting at the indentations at the top of neck. Place your left or right hand starting slightly above eyebrows lightly across your entire forehead. Breathe deeply throughout while releasing emotional and physical tensions. ************************************************************* It is my desire that you benefit from what you have learned in this file. If you feel you have benefited, please grab an envelope, toss a dollar in and mail it to: Lyn Bailey 9600 North Fork Florence, Oregon, 97439 Nothing will be sent in return, but your dollar will help support the creation of more "Dollarware" files. Thanks a lot! -<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-