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Saturday, September 8, 2007

How to Exercise While Sitting at Your Computer



Sitting at the computer all day is not exactly good for the body. If you have to be at a desk all day long, doing some simple things can improve your posture and health.



Steps



1. Sit properly in a good chair designed for desk work. Your back should be straight, shoulders back, and the top of your monitor should be level with your eyes. If you have to look down or up, you need to adjust the height of your screen. If you keep leaning forward, first get your eyesight checked. After a while you will improve your posture and no longer need this
restraint.


2. Maintain an ergonomic body posture while typing. Be sure your wrists are slightly lower than your elbows. This will help prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Keep your legs bent at the knees so that the knees are only slightly higher than your hips. Feet should be flat on the floor or on a step stool of some sort.



3. Stand up every half hour to stretch or walk around a bit.



4. Stretch your calves, and give your eyes a break from focusing on your computer screen. This will also help prevent blood clots from developing in your legs. Blood clots are very common among middle-aged computer users.



5. Learn to stretch. To stretch your neck, flex your head forward/backward, side to side and look right and left. Never roll your head around your neck. This could cause damage to the joints of the neck.



6. Roll your wrists regularly (this will help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome if you spend a lot of time typing).



7. Notice if you tend to hunch in front of the keyboard. To counter that, perform the following exercise: open your arms wide as if you are going to hug someone, rotate your wrists externally (thumbs going up and back) and pull your shoulders back. This stretch is moving your body the opposite way to being hunched and you should feel a good stretch across your upper chest.



8. Contract your abdominal and gluteal muscles, hold them there for a few seconds, then release. Repeat this for every few minutes all day long while you are working at your desk.



9. Stretch your arms, legs, neck and torso while sitting. This will help prevent you from feeling stiff.



10. Take advantage of the downtime created by rebooting or large file downloads to get up and try something more ambitious such as doing a few push-ups, sit-ups, and/or jumping jacks. Beware of your snickering co-workers though.



11. Acquire a hand gripper. They are cheap, small and light. When you have to read something either on the screen or on paper, you probably won't be using your hands very often so squeeze your gripper. It is an excellent forearm workout.



12. Acquire an elastic band (also cheap, small and light) and use it to do the actions mentioned in step 9 (i.e., when stretching your arms, do it by pulling apart the elastic band). You will not only stretch but it will also work the muscles slightly.



13. Take a few deep breaths. If possible, get some fresh air in your lungs.



14. Invest in a large size stability ball or stability ball style desk chair, and sit on it with back straight and abs firm. The actual stability ball is more effective, however the chair is a more viable option for use in an office environment. Sit, bounce or do basic toning exercises while watching TV or talking on the phone as well. Use the actual ball form in moderation when typing, as this is probably not the most supportive seating to prevent carpal tunnel and tendonitis.



15. While sitting, lift up your legs on the balls of your feet and set them down. Repeat these until your legs are comfortably tired. Then repeat it again about 10 minutes later. Do this whole routine for about an hour or so. This will exercise your calves.



16. Have a bottle of water by your side and make a habit of drinking some every half hour. If you do this consistently you will begin to feel more alert and in the long run you will get thinner.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Useful thoughts


Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself
~ ALEN STRIKE.

You are not responsible for what people think about you.
But you are responsible for what you give them to think about you.
~ STANLEY FERRARD.



A man is lucky if he is the first love of a Woman.
A woman is lucky if she is the last love of a man.
~CHARLES DICKENS


Write your Sad times in Sand, Write your Good times in Stone.
~GEORGE BERNARD SHAW


Behind every successful man, there is an untold pain in his heart.
~BILL JACOBS


Without your involvement you can't succeed. With your involvement you can't fail.
~Dr. ABDUL KALAM



Love your job but don't love your Company because you may not know
when your company stops loving you.
~NARAYANA MOORTHY


You may get DELAYED to reach your Targets.
But every step you take towards your target is EQUAL to Victory.
~KARL MARX



It's better to loose your Ego to the one you Love,
than to loose the one you LOVE because of EGO.
~JOHN KEATS


Don't make promise when you are in JOY . Don't reply when you are SAD.
Don't take decisions when you are ANGRY. Think twice, Act wise. BE happy.



When you start caring about yourself, you start loving somebody.
But when start caring about others somebody will start loving you.



What is the Secret of SUCCESS... ? "RIGHT DECISIONS"
How do you make Right Decisions...? "EXPERIENCE"
How do you get Experience... ? "WRONG DECISIONS"



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Courtesy: Abhijit Das