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I built a lay-down desk

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Re: I built a lay-down desk

#181

Post by bduerst »

andreareina wrote: post #25
zoba wrote: post #5

A friend once said “There’s all these studies about how bad sitting is for you. Now there are even studies about how bad standing desks are for you. Nobody ever says anything bad about laying down so I just try to do that as much as possible.” I still laugh. Perhaps true in part though.

IME it's not sitting or standing or lying down that's injurious, it's not moving . My pain to a large extent went away when I stopped staying so still. Now I change my posture on the regular, from leaning against the backrest to sitting away from it to taking little breaks to pace around a bit. Similarly, I used to get eye strain from all the screen time. Until I moved to an office with a view and I found myself star…

We used to joke that smokers have great eyes because they take regular screen breaks to go outside and stare at the horizon.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#183

Post by linsomniac »

christophergs wrote: post #168
linsomniac wrote: post #60

I tried this ~15 years ago, based around a Novus Zero Gravity Recliner. At the time I had been having a decade of upper back pain that just wouldn't go away. At one point it was so bad I could hardly get out of bed. At that point I went to an osteopath, on the recommendation of a physician friend of mine, and he gave me some isometric exercises for my neck, and the pain was instantly gone. I'm not kidding, if he'd do…

Could you talk more about the isometric exercises he had you do for your neck?

So I'll prefix this with saying that an Osteopath had checked me out before suggesting these, and that if there were other neck problems this could make them worse. I'd recommend seeing an Osteopath if you have similar issues and would like to try it.

Situation: When I was ~17 one night I slept kind of oddly twisted. I was kind of stretching my back and fell asleep and woke up with a sore neck. It stuck with me for years at some low level, massage would help a bit but it would never really go away. The pain was largely in the area where my neck and shoulders met, say around the size of a salad plate.

I woke up one morning when I was around 30 and it was so painful I couldn't sit up from a laying position to get out of bed. That's when I saw the Osteopath. A physician friend recommended I see them.

They gave me these "super ibuprofen" and isometric exercises, and literally it cured me basically immediately.

Solution: The exercise involves standing up straight, and using your hands to put opposing force against the different muscles in your neck. Your head needs to remain unmoved, neck straight, it was recommended that it be done in front of a mirror so you could make sure you weren't bending and remained straight.

Isometric exercises are exercises you do where your joints and muscles basically stay static. If you put your hands in front of you, like the praying position, and press equally with both hands, that is an isometric exercise. Lifting something is not.

In all cases you gently start pushing and gradually push harder, and similarly at the other end start pushing less hard until you are not pushing at all to end it.

The exercises were:

- Clasp your hands behind your head and oppose tilting your head back. - Ditto on the front, trying to look down. - Hand on one side if your head by your ear and try to tilt your head to that side. Ditto for the other side. - Palm on your forehead and try to turn your head that direction. Ditto for the other direction.

Again: See a medical professional before you do such a thing, but in my case it solved a chronic upper back pain as if it were a miracle. Literally a decade of pain was gone after spending 5 minutes doing this. YMMV. On the other hand, my non-genetically related mother had terrible bone deterioration and several surgeries including cervical fusion and added metal bits to her back, and if she had tried these exercises she'd probably end up in the ER.

If this guy had spoken in tongues and pulled out chicken parts hidden in washcloths, while doing similar exercises on me, I would absolutely, 100% believe in psychic surgery. It was miraculous.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#184

Post by AnotherGoodName »

cardiffspaceman wrote: post #121
andreareina wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IME it's not sitting or standing or lying down that's injurious, it's not moving . My pain to a large extent went away when I stopped staying so still. Now I change my posture on the regular, from leaning against the backrest to sitting away from it to taking little breaks to pace around a bit. Similarly, I used to get eye strain from all the screen time. Until I moved to an office with a view and I found myself star…

I have often thought about how driving for hours in a bucket seat, at least in the cars I've owned, has never been a struggle. The only thing that comes out wrong is I don't always hydrate, and that makes me a zombie (which is now a solved problem for me). So that leads to the thought that maybe, have the water supply for the hydroflask at a distance from the desk, so you have to get out of the chair to refill.

I'm not sure it's the chair so much as the movement that changes things. You're shifting around a lot when driving. Legs moving on pedals, arms and hands wheel turning, head+shoulders turning to look left and right.

It'd be nice if being comfortable at a computer all day was as easy as changing the seat but i don't believe that's true.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#185

Post by danudey »

ende wrote: post #179
andreareina wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IME it's not sitting or standing or lying down that's injurious, it's not moving . My pain to a large extent went away when I stopped staying so still. Now I change my posture on the regular, from leaning against the backrest to sitting away from it to taking little breaks to pace around a bit. Similarly, I used to get eye strain from all the screen time. Until I moved to an office with a view and I found myself star…

So what you're saying is we need to invent the gyro-desk!

so basically just a desk that constantly moves around? I suppose if you want to be 100% ergonomically friendly it should also just leave the room and go for a walk. If you want to keep working, you need to come along!

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#186

Post by jam »

I've had a setup like this for years, but it's much simpler: monitor arm [1], ultrawide display [2], keyboard + trackpad lap tray [3], any couch. Been through many iterations and like this gear, but you can do it for cheap just as easily.

Mount the arm to something (like a desk) and swing it over the couch to lay down. In my case, I can actually pivot it between the couch and the chair on the other side of the desk.

Great for a few hours a day when you want to sink into focus mode. Super highly recommended it.

[1] https://www.humanscale.com/products/monitor-arms/m-81

[2] https://www.lg.com/us/business/desktop-monitors/lg-34BK95U-W

[3] https://www.hekseskudd.com/products/ambidextrous-slim-keyboa...

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#187

Post by coldtea »

zoba wrote: post #5

A friend once said “There’s all these studies about how bad sitting is for you. Now there are even studies about how bad standing desks are for you. Nobody ever says anything bad about laying down so I just try to do that as much as possible.” I still laugh. Perhaps true in part though.

>Nobody ever says anything bad about laying dow

Google "pressure ulcer" / "bedsore".

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#188

Post by jerf »

melling wrote: post #23
diegocg wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst potential consequence of laying down is that your back muscles would become weaker. This is one of the reasons why sitting harms your back, and with laying down it would be even worse. Unless it's combined with some exercise it could be a really bad idea.

Are there good exercises for your back to offset sitting? Body weight exercises would be ideal.

Along with the other good replies, I think almost any strength exercise that has any connection to the back will probably do fine, especially if you're not doing anything at all right now.

Among the many other things I had hammered into me about health when I was a kid in the late 1980s and 1990s that I've come to reject is the incessant hammerbeat about aerobics, aerobics, aerobics. I think the evidence is that the average person is better off with a lot more strength training, which will incidentally train you on some aerobics, and if you feel like occasionally folding some aerobics in, hey, go for it. They're not bad or anything. But they ought to be considered a specialist training, like working out legs specifically for biking, not a default that everybody do. Strength training is a default everybody should work on. Strength training isn't so you can lift 300 pounds when you help your friend move... it because it makes everything work better. You sleep better. Your back hurts less. You fall less. You build a better base for aging.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#189

Post by coldtea »

danudey wrote: post #185
ende wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what you're saying is we need to invent the gyro-desk!

so basically just a desk that constantly moves around? I suppose if you want to be 100% ergonomically friendly it should also just leave the room and go for a walk. If you want to keep working, you need to come along!

>>So what you're saying is we need to invent the gyro-desk!

>so basically just a desk that constantly moves around?

No, a desk that has a gyro grill attached.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#190

Post by bee_rider »

jam wrote: post #186

I've had a setup like this for years, but it's much simpler: monitor arm [1], ultrawide display [2], keyboard + trackpad lap tray [3], any couch. Been through many iterations and like this gear, but you can do it for cheap just as easily. Mount the arm to something (like a desk) and swing it over the couch to lay down. In my case, I can actually pivot it between the couch and the chair on the other side of the desk.…

Same, I put my desk next to a recliner and the monitor on an armature and just swing it back and forth. The downside: the arrangement is kinda comfortable so I tend to play games in it. As a result, my mind associates it with non-work and have trouble focusing there. Also laying down all day is probably not healthy.
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