Hydration
Keep a bottle of water on your desk and take a few sips regularly. Any container will do. I used a Simply Orange Juice bottle for the longest time.
Desk Ergo
Adjust the height of your desk. If it’s too low, it’ll force your body to adjust by slumping forwards and hunching your shoulders forward and downwards. Making your desk shorter is harder, you might just want to elevate your chair if this is the case. To raise the height, you can use anything from bricks, to plywood glued together, or buy Desk Risers. You can simulate what the adjusted height would feel like by getting a box or any flat object that is an inch high or so and place it on your desk and see if that stops you from hunching forward.
Or just use a good ole brick
Monitor Ergo
Adjust the monitor height so that it is closer to eye level. If the monitor is too low, it forces your neck to bend forward and your head at a downwards angle. This also forces your back to be curved and your shoulders hunched slightly. I used a box. You can use any box, if it doesn’t provide proper support for your monitor, fill the inside with foam or a smaller box. You can also buy a monitor stand. The monitor stand gives the added flexibility of adding more storage space underneath your monitor. Monitor arms are nicer but cost more. Always measure the dimensions of your desk, your monitor stand, and test the stability of your stand before you use it. They key here is to use what’s around you!
Chair Ergo
Find a chair that supports good posture for you. Don’t buy in the streamer hype and get a gaming chair because it looks cool. Do your research. The cheaper chairs have low density foam and they flatten very quickly and provides no support after a few months. Different people have different needs. Personally speaking, mesh style chairs don’t provide enough support for me. Go try out different chairs at stores and see what works for you. Also keep in mind the foam type and quality of the chair. You want a thick layer of high density foam for the chair to last if you get a foam chair.
Exercise
Make exercise part of your regular schedule. It doesn’t have to be hardcore or a long session. Just make sure you’re moving around regularly. I go out and play Pokemon Go at set times to help keep me moving and outside. Also any workout app helps as well.
Headphones
Keep your headphone volume low! Headphone related hearing loss is real and it’ll hit you hard and earlier than the average person because as content creators we’re always at our desks with our headphones on for hours at a time.
Ideal vs. Practical
Don’t wait for ideal solutions. Use what you have around you. Think creatively. It won’t look pretty but better and more expensive equipment doesn’t make for better content. Pushing things off that can help your health is not worth it as well. As a content creator, I know funds are very limited so pinching every penny helps. The time will come when you will be able to afford and use shiny, fancy new equipment but no one starts out that way!
Ducky Obrien 