If you're anything like me, you spend at least 8 hours a day sitting in an office chair. The importance of good office chairs therefore cannot be stressed enough. Spending 8 hours a day in a chair, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year for 40 years amounts to a massive 20,000 hours. That is the equivalent of 4.8 full time years!
The right chair can make a massive difference to our day. A bad chair can have a seriously negative effect on our productivity. Try spending 8 hours a day in a bad office chair and see if it increases your productivity!
So, how do we know if our office chair is working for us? Well, here are 3 key things to consider .
Posture:
The most important consideration. How many of us are truly comfortable in our chairs? How many of us are truly sitting correctly? How many of us are allowing ourselves to be properly supported? How many of us are sitting in the best possible position for our body? Sitting incorrectly can lead to all kinds of issues including back and neck pain, headaches, feeling tired, lethargy, feeling stressed, feeling anxious, lack of concentration, lack of motivation and on and on and on. Reducing these issues can have a massive effect on our overall well being and success. Any chair that increases movement or causes pain is not going to be a good one.
Breath ability:
Our bodies breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. The amount of oxygen that our bodies use when we sit is measured in millilitres. It is not uncommon for our bodies to use 50% more oxygen when we sit than in a standing position. In other words, our bodies need more oxygen when we sit. When using an office chair, it is important that the chair allows our bodies to breathe easily. Consider the fabric of the office chair. Is it allowing air to move around our bodies easily or is it stopping our body from breathing properly? Consider the design of the office chair. Is it allowing air to move around our bodies easily or is it stopping our body from breathing properly? Consider how adjustable the office chair is. If our bodies are able to sit in a position that allows our body to breathe easily, this will increase our productivity.
Comfortable:
The next most important consideration. How comfortable are the chairs we are using? How comfortable are we? How comfortable are the people around us? I know from personal experience that I wont be as productive if people around me aren't comfortable in their chairs. Think about it. Would you sit next to someone who was uncomfortable in their role? No, of course you wouldn't. The uncomfortable situation would distract you. This distraction would essentially decrease your productivity .
Hopefully this blog has highlighted the importance of choosing the right office chair. Hopefully, it has also highlighted the importance of ensuring that our colleagues are comfortable in their chairs too. Remember, we spend on average 8 hours a day in a chair. That's 25% of our waking life. That's a quarter of our lives. Don't you think that a quarter of our lives is worth investing a little bit more thought into?
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