Money magazine recently published a brief article on the benefits of adjusting your chair to achieve maximum comfort, and “wealth.” As part of their Get Healthy, Get Wealthy series, they suggest that basic ergonomics, including optimally adjusted chairs and practicing good posture can improve comfort and happiness – which can lead to wealth.

I’m not sure that we can make a direct connection good posture between personal wealth, but we do know that bad posture for an extended period of time can affect mood, health and productivity. Data collected by Lumo Bodytech (the wearable device performance monitoring company) revealed that “only 36% of Americans’ workdays are spent sitting in good posture.” According to Monisha Perkash, CEO and Co-founder of Lumo, “workers are spending as much as 38 minutes per hour slouching, and women’s postures are 20% worse than men.”

Irvin Goldman, the thirty-year financial services veteran states that “good posture equals confidence.” He goes on to say, the “powerful pose” (shoulders back, back upright) releases certain chemicals in the body related to confidence.” According to an Ohio State University study, “posture can also affect how we think about ourselves. If you sit up straight, you end up convincing yourself by the posture you’re in.” If having self-confidence leads to making better decisions in life, it seems likely that this could lead to greater wealth! Here are a few pointers for posture:

• Set your desk, chair, keyboard and mouse in position so your hands, wrists and forearms rest in a straight line and reside parallel to the floor.
• Allow your upper-arms to hang normally from the side of your body, elbows bent at around 90 degrees.
• Keep your knees at about the same (or slightly lower) height as your hips, and make sure your feet can sit flatly on the floor. If they don’t fully reach the floor, bring in a footrest to support your feet.
• Take frequent breaks from sitting. Take time to stand up and stretch for a minute or two every half hour or so. And if you can, take a walk during breaks or lunch.

To learn more:

23 Ways Getting In Shape Can Boost Your Finances

The Best Free Health and Fitness Apps

A 12 Step Prevention & Maintenance Program

In 1964, the ideal weight (according to the Hamwi formula) for someone 5’ 10” was 165.3 pounds. In 1983, the ideal weight (based on the Robinson formula) for the same height person was 156.5 pounds. Today, the CDC sites a range of 128.9 to 174.2 pounds. Why the history lesson… because we… humans are a changin’ – and we are a learnin’!'

Way back in the dawn of modern day office work (1970s), OSHA and the experts determined that the average desk height should be 29-inches (this was based on someone 5’ 10”). Today, most furniture is designed around this concept. And this is fine in most cases because we can make chair and foot-rest adjustments. But those are the basics… how do we stay pain-free and healthy? Here’s how:

1. Be sure to incorporate a short (3-5 minute break) for every hour of sitting – whether at work, home, or while traveling. Many are using their smart phone timers as reminders.
2. During that 3-5 minute break, hang the arms straight down at your side for 60 seconds. That’s right, just let them hang.
3. Find your place of chair comfort. Is it sitting with your back supported by the back rest; unsupported sitting more forward on the chair, or is it a combination throughout the day. Just make sure your hips are at about 90 degree angles.
4. Remove the armrestsfrom your chair – especially if they block your arm motions or prevent you from being close enough to your keyboard.
5. Integrate GREAT POSTURE! Head sitting upright on your shoulders, and shoulders over your hips.
6. Mix it up. Your base position of comfort is your go-to place… but it’s ok to occasionally hunch, or bend, or tilt throughout the day.
7. Fidget, wriggle, and squirm.A study last year suggests that fidgeting may “reduce some of the negative health effects” of a sedentary life.

To learn more:

The Pain-Free Program: A Proven Method to Relieve Back, Neck, Shoulder, and Joint Pain, Anthony B. Carey, M.A., C.S.C.S.

In 1946 Stella Pajunas set the world typing record on an electric typewriter at 216 words per minute (wpm), and in 1959, Carole Bechen established the manual typewriter record at 176 wpm.  Although still fast, modern keyboards can’t match these early records where the fastest “modern keyboarder” is Gregory Arakelian who typed 158 wpm in 1991.  Writer Barbara Blackburn has maintained 150 wpm for 50 minutes.  Blistering typing speeds… yes, but even more impressive is that most typists were timed and set their records over a full 50-minute timed event!

Office professionals from the 1930s through the 1980s averaged 70 to 80 wpm; whereas today the average worker averages 33 wpm when using a standard keyboard; and 15 to 30 wpm while using a tablet or smartphone.

There are few injury statistics available from early times; however, anecdotal information allows us to interpret that most early office workers did not suffer the same proportion of wrist or upper extremity problems as reported today by modern workers.  This is in-line with a 2001 study by the Mayo Clinic where they found that heavy computer users (up to seven hours per day) had the same rate of wrist problems as the general population.  Additionally, if we were to compare injury rates to the industrial environment during the 1940s, injury incident rates were improved due to training, experience, and culture.

With what we know of the past, let’s explore what previous generations did to prevent upper extremity injuries:

1. They sat up straight and practiced “good posture.  Family and societal “rules” dictated a very clear message, and it was clearly embedded and disciplined – sit up straight!”  “Typing” schools firmly instructed all students in the practice of sitting in an upright posture with shoulders back, eyes forward, and chin tucked in.
2. Early typewriters had some built in key resistance – allowing a slight “rest” of the fingers on the “keyboard.”These built in “rest breaks” were part of the mechanics of typing.  Today, to compensate for today’s keyboards, we recommend a 1-2 minutes stretch break every hour.
3. Strict adherence to proper elbow, neck, and angles.  Using early office equipment required fingers and hands in good position for strength for both typing and 10-key.
4. Chair posture.  There were very few chair choices and most required an upright and posture-correct seated position.  Chairs today have numerous adjustments, including armrests.  Until the 1970s, armrests were not part of office professionals using typewriters.  Today, we recommend in most cases that people not use armrests.

A lot can be learned from those that came before us, including some excellent tips on staying ergohealthy!

To learn more:

Using Computer Doesn't Increase Risk Of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Study Finds

World Champion Typists and Typewriting World Records

Recently, researchers at the University of Birmingham and other universities recruited sedentary office workersadvising them that they would be participating in a study by walking 30 minutes during their usual lunch hour, three times a week.  The study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, contained 56 participants (mostly middle-aged women).

Researchers designed questions to measure the participant’s feelings about tension, stress, enthusiasm, physical fatigue and other factors.  A phone application allowed volunteers to respond “in the moment.”  Those involved revealed that “they were out of shape but otherwise generally healthy physically and emotionally.”

For ten weeks, each workday morning and afternoon, participants answered survey questions via phone.  At the conclusion of the study, researchers compared all of the responses, both between groups and within each individual person – looking to determine if both group and individual answers were different on the afternoons when they had walked compared with when they had not.

According to the findings, the responses were significantly different when people had walked – where on days walked, participants felt “considerably more enthusiastic, less tense, and generally more relaxed and able to cope than on afternoons when they hadn’t walked and even compared with their own moods from a morning before a walk.”

An additional and unexpected outcome showed that all participants show “gains in their aerobic fitnessand other measures of health at the completion of their 10 weeks of walking.

Want to learn more:

Changes in work affect in response to lunchtime walking in previously physically inactive employees: A randomized trial.

My Dad owned a 1966 Dodge Charger with a 426 Hemi.  As a child, I remember fondly being “pinned” to the back seat during hard acceleration.  And for safety, my Dad always had us wear our seatbelts.

That same year of the Dodge Charger (1966), researchers from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, TX) chose a small group (5) of healthy men in their 20s to compare health statistics and the affect of exercise.  They planned to follow up at 30 and 40 year intervals.  Yes, the researchers returned in 1996 and 2006!

In the follow up examinations and testing of all five participants, they compared the results to the 1966 study.  And although this was a small control group, two findings emerged of interest.  First, they found that 3 weeks of bed rest, even at the young age of 20, did more damage to physical conditioning, than 30 years of aging.  And, although the men had all gained body fat over time and their oxygen intake ability declined with age, their maximum cardiovascular function had not changed significantly when performing the exercises.

The most significant finding however is that “one hundred percent of the age-related decline in aerobic power among these five middle-aged men occurring over 30 years was reversed by a 6-month endurance training program.

Want to learn more:

Cardiovascular effects of 1 year of progressive and vigorous exercise training in previously sedentary individuals older than 65 years of age.

A 30-year follow-up of the Dallas Bedrest and Training Study: II. Effect of age on cardiovascular adaptation to exercise training. 

With the recent celebration of Global Ergonomics Month, here are some reminder tips for things you can do to remain ERGOhealthy:

1. Integrate walking as part of your fitness plan.  The American College of Sports Medicine recommends at least 2.5 hours (150 minutes) of activity each week.  For most adults, this amount of physical activity can be easily achieved in 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
2. For those in sedentary professions, or who spend a lot of time sitting, before you begin your day, adjust your workstation.  This takes less than a few minutes.
3. Get up and stretch every 1 – 2 hours.  Relax your eyes using vision relaxation exercises.  And remember to drink plenty of water.
4. Cut down on watching television and gaming.  For participants in a recent study, the risk of death was twofold higher for participants who watched three or more hours of television per day compared to those who watched one hour less.
5. People who exercise a few times a week in their senior years are 2.5 times less likely to suffer serious long-term health problems.  According to a recent study, taking up physical activity later in life is beneficial and life-extending.  The findings include:
   1. Whether working in the garden or cleaning your car, exercising a few times a week in your later years can dramatically improve health.
   2. Seniors who participate in moderate exercise (including walking or dancing) are two and a half times less likely to suffer serious long-term health problems.

If you are holding off starting down your ERGOhealthy path, now is the time to start.  Recently, researchers from University College London who examined 3,500 men and women over 65 say “it is never too late to start being active.”

There are lot of ways people exercise today – whether it’s swimming, hiking, biking, martial arts, running, gardening, aerobics & other classes, yoga, weightlifting, and numerous sporting activities.  Given the number of options, however, experts say that “walking is a superfood” of fitness.  According to Katy Bowman, author and scientist, walking is the “defining movement of a human.”  Walking, she suggests, is a “movement nutrient that the body needs.”

New research evidence has come to light that suggests that trying to offset a sedentary lifestyle with an hour-straight of exercise may not be as effective as integrating shorter breaks throughout the day.  In August of this year, a small study of non-obese men suggests that three to five minute walks/breaks for every hour of sitting helps functionality of arterial flow in the legs.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends at least 2.5 hours (150 minutes) of activity each week.  For most adults, this amount of physical activity can be easily achieved in 30 minutes/day, five days a week.  ACSM’s former President, Dr. Bob Sallis touts walking (and rolling, for those who use wheelchairs) a “wonder drug” for many of today’s most common medical problems.

Welcome to the walking movement!

Want to learn more:

Effect of Prolonged Sitting and Breaks in Sitting Time on Endothelial Function

Every Body Walk! The Campaign to Get America Walking

ACSM on Physical Activity and Weight Loss

Katy Bowman: Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement - Paperback

This month’s tip comes from Kate Montgomery, an ERGOhealthy Coach and author.  She shares with us her insights for various professions, hobbies, and sports:

No matter what your occupation, sport or hobby, the 12-step Montgomery Method™ can help you to maintain stronger grip strength, and reduce or eliminate the pain in your arms, wrists and hands.  Kate’s 12 Step Healing Method can be found on the ERGOhealthy Ergonomics Resource Center at www.schoolergocenter.com(see the Resource Library).

Here are a few extra tips Kate would like to share:

Sedentary Professions:  Before you begin your day, adjust your workstation – which takes less than five minutes.  Every two to four hours Kate recommends doing Steps 1 through 11 of the Montgomery Method, and massaging your muscles as needed.  Get up, move around, and stretch.  Drink plenty of water.  Relax your eyes using vision relaxation exercises.

Musicians:  Warm-up with exercises and self-massage your arms and hands before practice or performing. Complete Steps 1-11 before and after playing. Warm-up with the following exercises:

• Ball squeeze or grip strength, ten to twenty times, each hand
• Chinese ball exercise, ten times, each hand
• Rubber band exercise, ten to twenty times, each hand. Use exercise tools to stretch and strengthen the extensor muscles as well as the flexor muscles (pinch grip) of the forearm.

Golfers:  Complete Steps 1-11 before you tee off.  Steps 4-11 can be done throughout the game as needed. After the game, repeat all steps. Use exercise tools to stretch and strengthen the extensor muscles as well as the flexor muscles (pinch grip) of the forearm.

Tennis Players (and like Sports):  Complete Steps 1-11 before you begin a match.  Steps 4-11 can be done throughout the game as needed. After the game, repeat all steps. Rub the neurolymphatic reflex points for the hamstrings and quadriceps as well as the upper body. For hamstrings, rub the inside of the legs. For quadriceps, rub under the rib cage diagonally. Rub firmly for ten to thirty seconds.

Knitters, Needlepoint/Quilters:  Be aware of your posture the whole time you are knitting, needle pointing, or quilting.  When doing tasks such as these, check your posture to ensure your shoulders are not rounded.  Complete Steps 1-11, and stretch throughout your day.  Include steps 10 and 11 as much as tolerable.

References:

The Montgomery Method:  A 12 Step Prevention & Maintenance Program for Ages 7 and Up (Kate Montgomery, CSMT, ND)

Adults in the United States spend more than half of their waking hours in sedentary pursuits such as television viewing, computer use, or driving.

According to new research published this month in the Journal of the American Heart Association, adults who watch three or more hours of television per day have double the risk of premature death compared to those who watch less.

“Watching television is significant sedentary behavior, there being a growing tendency towards this lifestyle behavior pattern," highlighted lead researcher Miguel A. Martínez-González.  "Our results are consistent with a previous series of studies in which the time spent watching television is linked to mortality.”

The risk of death was twofold higher for participants who watched three or more hours of television per day compared to those who watched one hour less.  There was no association found with computer use or driving.

Recommendations from the researchers include:

1. Increase physical activity
2. Avoid long periods of sedentary inactivity
3. Reduce exposure to television to not more than one or two hours a day

Want to learn more: 

Television Viewing, Computer Use, Time Driving and All‐Cause Mortality: The SUN Cohort

Physical activity report card for our youth:  Not good – with 50% of waking hours spent in sedentary activity.

Recently, The National Physical Activity Plan Alliance and the AmericanCollege of Sports Medicine released their U.S. Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.  Unfortunately, grades in a number of key indicators are failing or very poor.

According to the report, the primary goal of the report card was to “assess physical activity levels and sedentary behaviors of U.S. children and youth.”   Key findings indicate that physical activity levels in American youth are falling below recommended levels, with 50% of waking hours spent in sedentary activity.  Furthermore, the report found that only 25% of children ages 6 to 15 are meeting the current guideline of 60 minutes of moderate physical activity per day

The key indicators evaluated and graded in the report card include:

-- Overall Physical Activity:  D-

-- Sedentary Behaviors:  D

-- Active Transportation:  F

-- Organized Sport Participation:  C-

-- School:  C-

-- Community and the Built Environment:  B-

-- Active Play:  Incomplete

-- Health-Related Fitness:  Incomplete

-- Family and Peers:  Incomplete

-- Government Strategies and Investments:  Incomplete

Want to learn more:

The 2014 United States Report Card On Physical Activity For Children & Youth 

Top nutrition experts share ideas for getting kids to eat better and be more active