Each year, more and more of the workforce grows more sedentary, spending time sitting at their desk jobs anywhere from eight to ten hours a day. Though the pervasiveness of digital work and dedication to productivity drive this phenomenon, it doesn’t mean our bodies can handle such an inactive life.
That’s why furniture makers hone their designs with physical health in mind. Improve your work life with an office setup that works for you, not against you. Ahead, learn about the importance of an ergonomic office chair.
What Are Ergonomic Chairs?
Ergonomics is the study of worker efficiency in the working environment. The entire purpose of this strain of thought and research is to analyze and improve workplace conditions and practices to get the most out of the hours people spend at work.
Ergonomic chairs embody this philosophy. These chairs have uniquely shaped seats, backs, armrests, and accessories that encourage healthy habits and promote physical well-being. You can identify ergonomic chairs by their seat height and depth, lumbar back support, and overall adjustability. For example, our chairs at Smart Furniture embody these foundational tenets, providing structural support and aesthetically pleasing designs.
Prioritize Your Health
Your healthiness at work is mainly dependent upon your workplace environment. This environment itself contains two variables: external and internal factors. External factors include all the things about your workspace you can’t control, such as the location, chattiness of your coworkers, culture of self-care, and more. Internal factors are the things you can change yourself. This could include everything from your organizational system to your desk chair.
Save Your Back
Back and neck pain are two of the most common health issues that desk workers face—in addition to finger, wrist, and elbow pain. Your back angles your limbs and holds up your head, so when you don’t give it the proper support, you end up sitting in awkward positions that spur back problems.
Ease your back pain with an ergonomic chair specifically designed to target the lower back and provide lumbar support. The way the seat arches mimics how your spine should feel when sitting upright, naturally carving a path along your spine. An ergonomic design will help you minimize the back pain you feel while improving strength in your lumbar region.
Improve Your Posture
Your back takes a beating each day when you bend forward for hours over a keyboard—back arched, shoulders slumped, neck hanging down. Sure, this is how we all work at a computer, but there are ways to combat this unhelpful position. Improve your posture with an ergonomic desk chair that encourages healthy angles for working at a computer.
Ergonomic chairs support your spine from the base of the skull down to your tailbone. You need consistent pressure point support that prompts healthy posturing. Ergonomic desk chairs reduce hip pressure and pain by giving you the option to adjust seat depth against the lumbar-supporting lower back padding.
Avoid Costly Problems Later
Health problems related to your joints, back, and posture are costly. Save on doctor’s visits and surgeries down the line by investing in your workday health today. Your bone health and muscular strength as an older adult depend on how you spend your younger years at work. Don’t wait until you have chronic pain to change your workplace lifestyle.
Aside from the structural support, ergonomic chairs encourage blood circulation. The amount of circulation you experience directly relates to how hard you force your heart to pump each day. Your circulation is great when walking down the street but quite stagnant when sitting in a desk chair all day. Utilize an ergonomic chair that causes you to engage core muscles and sit up frequently throughout the day. This extra bit of work will boost your heart health, impacting your years to come.
Boost Your Productivity
You want to be productive at work, so give yourself the tools to be productive. An ergonomically designed chair will help you sit up, stay alert, and focus on your tasks.
Structure Equals Success
When forced to sit up a bit more while comforting targeted pressure points, you’ll be more alert and you’ll slouch much less. These postural differences result in increased attentiveness at work. The structure of the chair prompts you to stay upright whenever you begin slouching. In effect, ergonomic chair structure equals success during the workday.
Stay Comfortable but Not Cozy
Due to pandemic-related shifts in work culture, work-from-home roles and flex in-and-out of office jobs are here to stay. Because people spend more time working from home, there is the ever-encroaching temptation to make working from home cozier and cozier.
Ergonomic desk chairs strike the perfect balance between comfortable and cozy. They provide pain-easing padding that makes you feel cozier than in other chairs, but they’re quite structured and relatively rigid. Instead of fighting a mid-afternoon nap on the couch under a blanket, try an ergonomic desk chair to prompt productivity while remaining comfy as can be.
Encourage Positive Feelings
Your office chair plays a key role in your psychosomatic relationship with your work. Encourage positive feelings and stimulate mental health benefits with an ergonomic chair.
Increase Workplace Engagement
Your work environment directly impacts your job satisfaction. If you feel clouded, disappointed, or unsatisfied at work, your environment could have something to do with it. An ergonomic desk chair removes the association of back, neck, or joint pain and working. When you have a health-boosting place to sit, you will feel more positively about your workspace and workplace.
Suit Your Own Needs
Ergonomic chairs are all about customization. You should be able to adjust these chairs in several ways to benefit your personal posture and working position. Most ergonomic chairs include adjustable seating that meets your needs with mobile elements that alter seat height, seat depth, back recline, and armrest position. Suit your own needs with a flexible design.
Understanding the importance of an ergonomic office chair allows employees and employers alike to maximize their workspaces. Whether you’re looking to buy home office chairs for your home office or corporate headquarters, you should explore our selection at Smart Furniture. Give us a call today to learn more about our top-rated ergonomic chairs designed by international experts.
