AidanMontareDotNet

You are on the old part of aidanmontare.net, which I am no longer maintaining. Newer versions of some of this content can be found on the active part of my site, which you can reach from my homepage.

The Perils of Desk Work

(last updated

Disclaimer

I am not a  medical expert! Please consult a real doctor or specialist if you are concerned about any of the potential problems I list on this page. My health pages are merely documentation of preventative maintenance for problems that I feel.

This page is a work in progress. I have yet to finish my reviews of the things I currently use and need to add some actual research to support my conjectures.

Some Problems with My Life

I do a lot of computer work. I also like building things and playing my instruments. Unfortunately, all of these things involve staying still and looking at things near my face for long periods of time.

I want to be able to get things done and pursue my interests, but I also don’t want to be unable to enjoy them later on because I spend to much time on repetitive tasks. In particular, I am concerned with the following possible risks:

  • eyesight issues from focusing on the same plane for long periods
  • arm, wrist, and hand stress due to repetitive movements
  • sleep issues due to blue light from computers

While I don’t know if these issues will every be a major concern for me, I don’t want to find out after it’s too late. Thus I have tried multiple ways of preventing harm from desk work. Below are the preventions I have tried for each of my concerns, with various comments and an informal review for each.

Repetitive Stress

Workrave

Workrave is an open source project for preventing Repetitive Strain Injury. It is also useful for helping limit eye strain and hand injuries that might arise from doing a lot of computer work. Even those who do not have RSI will find the reminders to take regular breaks from their computer usage help them avoid strain on the eyes, hands, and arms.

Just make sure you don’t cheat by using another computer, checking your phone, or doing desk work when you should be taking a break. The idea is to give your eyes and body a break from working, so actually make it a break!

For musicians who don’t practice enough, an alternate use of the program is to use the rest breaks to spend five or ten minutes on their instrument. Though beware, as playing an instrument might also be stressful for one’s hands and wrists.

Suggestions

The defaults are pretty good, but here are some of my suggestions based on how I work:

  • Disable skip button in micro-breaks and rest breaks. Force yourself to postpone your breaks only a little bit rather than getting in the habit of skipping them.
  • Remove exercises from the rest breaks. Give them a try first. If you are recovering from repetitive stress injury or can’t find anything else to do, then they might be helpful. However, I typically use my rest break to walk to another room, get a drink, go to the bathroom, etc.
  • Make the end break sound the same as the start break sound. This one is louder so you can be reminded that your break is done when you are a bit further away from your computer. Of course, there is nothing wrong with taking a longer break (unless you have a really important project to finish)!
  • Remember to turn on reading mode if you are reading, working on another computer, checking your phone, etc. This will run the timers whether or not Workrave detects usage of the computer.

My current Workrave configuration file can be found here.

Networking

I have yet to try the networking features of Workrave, since none of my desktop computers are always running. The application does not run without an X Server.

Things I Would Like

When I have some programming experience I would like to try doing some of these.

  • A bit more documentation. Though most of the settings are self-explanatory.
  • An icon change to show whether reading mode is on or not. Maybe a bit red X over the sheep, since I always forget to turn this off.
  • A server application. (This is in the works.)
  • Tracking sitting at your desk with a webcam. This would be good when I am working on paper but still want to make sure I get up once and a while. (This is also an upcoming feature.)
  • Workrave applet to work in KDE. The timers don’t show on one of my computers.
  • Windows applet with timers. Similar to the Lenovo ThinkPad power manager applet.

Lazydoro+

The Lazydoro is a really neat project idea featured on Hackaday. The end goal is a wristband that alerts the user to get up and move around once the builtin accelerometer detects the wearer has been sitting still for a while.

The project is currently in progress. I hope to build a similar device that would function like Workrave, but tracking accelerometer movement instead of computer usage.

Eye Strain and Nearsightedness

As I said, my life is basically all nearsighted activities. Thus it became a struggle to maintain my eyesight while enjoying my hobbies.

Rebuild Your Vision

Rebuild Your Vision is a program of eye exercises. Its somewhat expensive, but would be worth it if it works. I admit the creator’s story of wanting to be a U.S. Navy fighter resonated with me, since I have always dreamed of having a pilot’s license and flying around the country.

I have not tried this program or any similar series of eye exercises at this time, but it might be an option for me.

Nighttime Eye Strain and Sleep Deprivation

Using computers at night can be a real pain (especially if you have a large project due the following day). Looking at screens in the dark can be tiring, and there is also some research that suggests that blue light emitted by screens can affect your ability to sleep.

Proper Lighting

A non-technical solution to nighttime eye strain is to make sure that your working space is properly lit. Someone one suggested that the area surrounding your screen should be the same brightness as the screen itself. I find this a good suggestion.

Typically, I work with the overhead lights on as well as my desk lamp to ensure that I am not looking a bright screen in the dark, which seems to be straining.

f.lux

Regardless of whether blue light (computer screens are a lot bluer than most other light sources) actually affects sleep, I have found that it makes working at night a lot harder. While I like bright, clear screens when working under daylight, at night they are way to harsh.

f.lux is a small utility that adjusts the color temperature of your computer screens (it works with multiple monitors) to match the time of day. During the day hours, your screens stay just as normal, but as the sun goes down (based on your location), the screen gets redder. It might be strange to get used to, but after using this program for several months, all of my computers now have Redshift or f.lux, and I can’t live without them.

If you are a graphic designer or need to see accurate colors, f.lux can be disabled temporarily, but the only real solution is to try to do all your graphic work during the day.

Redshift

f.lux has a Linux package, but it didn’t work well for me. Try Redshift, which accomplishes the same thing. One my Linux computers, I have the following command set to run after the desktop environment starts:

gtk-redshift -l 00.00:00.00 -v -t 6500:4500

Replace 00.00:00.00 with your latitude and longitude so that the program can calculate when sunrise and sunset are. The gtk-redshift package will start a small task bar icon for disabling Redshift when doing color-sensitive work.