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5 Considerations for Setting Up Home Office
Setting up a home office – top tips
Most of us are now working from home and have been since March last year – almost a year! Have you got it figured out or are you feeling aches and pains and struggling to switch off?
Here are our top tips for setting up a home office
1: Make sure the internet signal is strong enough and if not buy a booster
You don’t want your working day to be longer than it needs to be because you are waiting for uploads and downloads.
2: Invest in a proper ergonomically designed office chair and think about the height you need it to be. Aches and pains are distracting and can lead to permanent (and expensive!) musculoskeletal issues.
Take a look at our wide range of ergonomic office chairs
3: Ensure that your computer screen is at eye level. Many of us are working on tablets and laptops and so looking down at a screen all day, this is no good for neck and back health. Look at our monitor arms and screen raisers.
4: Get the lighting right, to reduce eye strain and fatigue. In any spot where you’ll be performing tasks like reading, writing, or computer work, you’ll want a good quality task lamp. Task lighting provides you with a bright, focused light that allows you to easily see the details of what you are doing without fatiguing your eyes.
5: Consider a sit-stand desk – especially with restrictions on out outdoor activity it’s important for the health of our backs, necks and hips that we limit the time spent seated at our desks. Consider a standing desk or a desk that can be quickly adapted from seated to sitting with the push of a button.
Lavaro Sit-Stand Desks - A Healthier Way To Work At A Desk
Sit Stand desks from Lavaro are electric height adjustable desks of exceptional quality. They enable you to vary your working day between sitting and standing, as recommended by many health authorities.
It has been found that spending too many hours sitting has negative health consequences, and many of us who work at desks much of the day experience back pain, knee pain, hip pain and neck pain. However standing all day at a desk can be fatiguing and can be associated with poor postural habits.
As with anything – we need a balanced variety of sitting and standing and changes of posture throughout the day. This is where Lavaro Sit Stand desks come in because the height can be adjusted at the touch of a button.
The London Spine Clinic recommend sit stand desks stating:- “they have been designed in a way which makes working comfortable whether you’re stood up of sat down. It gives you the ability to vary your posture and combat the health risks which are associated with sitting too much.”
Home-Offices
The problems of prolonged sitting have been exacerbated by the increase in home based desk work. Where we may have walked to the end of the office for a printer, down a corridor to make a cup of tea or upstairs to chat to a colleague, now we are all just steps away from everything we need and we have to communicate with colleagues via video calls. No wonder there has been an increase in reported back pain, brain fog and fatigue amongst home-based office workers.
The Science
A study to determine if standing desks could reduce back pain found a 32% improvement in lower back pain after several weeks of using standing desks. Another study published by the CDC found that use of a sit-stand desk reduced upper back and neck pain by 54% after just 4 weeks. Removal of the sit-stand desks reversed some of those improvements within a 2-week period.
If you plan to start using a standing desk, it’s recommended you split your time 50-50 between standing and sitting.
Key features of a Lavaro Sit Stand Desk
Lavaro sit stand height adjustable desks are electric, which enables you to vary between sitting and standing during the day at the touch of a button.
You may want to start the day sitting and then stand before lunch if your mind is getting tired, as it’s been shown that our energy and productivity increases when we stand. You may want to stand after lunch as that’s been found to help to reduce blood sugar spikes. You might then want to sit again for the last hour of the day if you are fatigued.
The Lavaro desk height is adjustable from 640mm to 1300mm allowing you to find the perfect height for your shoulders and back. See our below guide to selecting the correct height for you.
Another key consideration when choosing a height adjustable desk, especially if you are setting up a home office, is the look of the desk. Lavaro desks are available in 12 different finishes!
You can choose from single worker desks, double depth bench desks for teams or Executive corner desks with space for printers and other equipment.
The double depth desks have two controls so that each desk side can be set at a different height.
Lavaro desks are available in several lengths from 12000 to 1800mm and from 700mm to 1800 depth.
The desks are built in Europe to an incredibly high standard from high quality components and have a 5 year guarantee.
Setting The Height of Your Lavaro Desk
To decide the sitting and standing heights of the desk:-
Relax your shoulders and create a 90-degree angle with your elbows and bring the desk height to just below the forearm with wrists in line with your forearms.
You should be able to work with your head upright and your eyes in line with the top one third of the screen you are working on.
When sitting your thighs should be parallel to the floor and your feet should be firmly on the floor.
Your rib cage should be above your hips, meaning you are not leaning forwards or backwards.
When seated your knees should be straight but not locked.
If you have any questions about Lavaro Desks get in touch