Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences

A Sitting Dilemma

by Rico on December 4th, 2006

Unless your job brings you around a lot (freelance photographers, stylists, and speakers come to mind), you’ll probably spend most of the work day seated. And all our lives, we’ve been told that sitting up straight is the best way to do things.

But an article on Slashdot (thanks to Office Repo for the heads up!) says that “sitting in an upright position places unnecessary strain on your back.” Obviously, productivity suffers once that complicated mix of muscles, bones and joints called the back goes awry.

Apparently, slackers everywhere should rejoice. The study featured in the article maintains that sitting at 135 degrees (i.e., leaning back) is not only more comfortable, but less harmful as well. Sitting at 90 degrees may be bad, but leaning forward for a long time seems to be the worst.

I do have a problem with these results though; while I don’t contest the physiological benefits of “slouching,” leaning back is still dangerous for me; it makes it much easier to fall asleep on the job, limiting my productivity as a freelancer. Guess there’s a price to pay for health after all. Looks like I’ll need to chug down more coffee if I want to keep my back in one piece, or just deal with the pains when I’m much older. :(

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POSTED IN: Great Advice, Living as a Freelancer