How to avoid office fatigue

If you work in and office, you may find working at your desk all day makes you fatigued. This could be for many reasons, it could be that your chair is not ergonomical, your monitor screen is too low or that your desk is too high. All of these reasons can increase the risk or musculoskeletal disorders, fatigue and lack of productivity. 

It’s Important to take action when you start to notice that your office furniture is causing you discomfort. Below are some simple tips that will help with fatigue and also reduce the risk of contracting a musculoskeletal disorder.

1. Ensure that your head and eyes are level with your computer screen. If you’re looking down at your screen or looking too far up, this will cause immense pressure and weight on your neck. Getting a laptop stand or an adjustable monitor arm will aid with this.
2. Make sure you’re sitting properly, and don’t slouch! If you’re sitting incorrectly, more pressure will be applied to the discs and vertebrae in your back. If you sit for prolonged periods during the day, and you don’t do anything to combat this, you could suffer from long term back pain. An ergonomic chair or a backrest will help you feel more comfortable whilst sat down.
3. Make sure your keyboard and mouse are close to each other. If they are both in completely different areas on your desk, this will encourage excessive reach which will increase the risk of strains in the shoulders and arms.
4. Make sure that your monitor is not placed in front of a window or a bright background, this will increase screen glare. This will make it hard to focus on the computer screen and will increase the risk of eye strain.
5. If your feet dangle from your chair when you are seated, then you need to get a footrest! If your feet don’t comfortably reach the floor, you will increase pressure on your legs and back.

All of these tips will ensure you feel happy and comfortable in your working environment, this means fatigue will be reduced and productivity at work will increase, which will make for a positive workplace.

If you find that your office set up at work is causing you discomfort, and you are interested in ergonomic furniture, then getting a DSE workstation assessment is the best place to start.

At Vergo, DSE assessments include a full written report of the existing workstation which helps both line managers and ‘end users’ identify any issues with current setups as well as any specific products that may assist on a proactive basis with regards to musculoskeletal disorders.

If you would like to discuss your DSE assessment requirements in more detail, or you would like more information on how we could help, contact us here.