The Comfort Principle: Stay Healthy at Work by Setting Up an Ergonomic Office

The Comfort Principle: Stay Healthy at Work by Setting Up an Ergonomic Office

Posted by Human Solution on Mar 12th 2013

The “Comfort Principle” is a pretty easy concept to grasp. Here’s the gist: Spend your money where you spend your time. Here’s another way to put it: It makes sense to shell out for the important things in life; the stuff you use every day like your bed, your car or your office chair.

Lifehacker’s Jason Chen explores the idea of the Comfort Principle in depth, and he suggests taking stock of where you spend your time and what you spend your time doing every day and allocating your budget towards those things. So, if you spend most of your time at the office, like so many of us do these days, making room in your budget for an excellent ergonomic chair makes perfect sense.

Even if you work from home, budgeting in a high-end office chair can be integral to your health. You sit for long hours (Some people I know sit and work for 10 or 12 hours – that’s up to 50% of their day -- not counting all the sitting they do on the couch and in the car!), and an ergonomic chair will not only keep you comfy, but it’ll keep back pain and illness at bay. You don’t want to hurt while you’re working, and a good chair will keep you feeling healthy and supported so that you can concentrate on your work.

While ergonomic chairs can get pretty pricey, they’re also built to last, and they’ll offer a lot more comfort, lumbar support and other health benefits when compared to a mediocre bargain basement chair from the local department store.

The Comfort Principle can be extended to the rest of your office or home office setup, like your desk. Many consider an adjustable height standing desk to be a luxury item, and while they usually do cost more than a standard fixed height desk, it’s worth spending the extra cash to have a desk that’s built to keep you healthy and productive.

If you work at your desk all day, you’re probably sitting all day. While an ergonomic chair will keep your back feeling good while you sit, standing up while you work for at least part of the day will help you burn more calories and improve your blood flow while promoting better posture, energy and focus. Once you start to feel the benefits of an ergonomic chair combined with a height adjustable desk, you’ll be glad you spent your money where you spend your time. If you work long hours, you may as well stay comfortable and healthy.

Learn more about setting up a healthy ergonomic office at TheHumanSolution.com.

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