Hazards

Not many people realize this, but there are hazards associated with working at a computer for long periods of time.  I'm not creating this page to scare you, but to merely inform you so that avoidable complications don't need to arise.

Back

Sitting for long periods of time can over time cause the back muscles to weaken, and thus cause back pains.  It is important therefore to make sure you do the following to prevent this.

• Make sure you have good posture.  This means no slouching.  Slouching can cause you to put a lot more stress on your back than you need to.  It is an easy way to push your back to far, and cause lower back pains.
• Exercise:  Yes it helps.  You need to be involved with something three to four times a week that uses your back muscles.  This could be as simple as an intramural, aerobics, lifting, or chiropractic stretching (There are a certain exercises designed to strengthen your back that take about 15 minutes a day.)  By keeping active, your back will not become weekend by extended time sitting, and you will be less likely to get pains.
• Backpacks: We all carry them around, and for some of us, that is a good 50 pounds or more.  Make sure you are carrying them across your shoulders evenly.  The bag should not make you lopsided, or it will be putting undue stress on your back.  If at all possible, keep your bag on a desk, since lifting items out of your bag on the floor requires bending your back.  It is best to follow proper lifting techniques by bending at the knees, and removing the books you need from your bag before you sit down.

Dehydration

One of the symptoms of dehydration is having a headache, a symptom often misinterpreted as the result of homework problems.  There is however a no liquid, food, or tobacco policy in our labs to insure that the computers stay clean.  This causes a problem for the average student who will spend three or more hours at a time in the computer lab.  Therefore it is recommended that you take a few minutes every hour to visit the water fountain.  There are water fountains located at the end of each hallway at SJU, and one by the bathrooms at the top of the stairs in Ardolf (CSB).  It is well to note that a person becomes dehydrated well before they feel thirsty, so waiting for thirst may very well give you an avoidable headache.  A person should consume two or more quarts of water a day depending on their activity level.  That comes out to be about 3/4 cup of water every hour for a twelve hour day.

Eyes

To no surprise, just like video games and watching TV, looking at a monitor for long periods of time can cause strain to your eyes.  To help prevent this, you can do the following.

• Take a break every hour to half hour.  You can be getting a drink of water at that time.
• If you are coding, have an outline of what you are doing on the desk in front of you.  This will help you follow along with what you are doing on your screen, and it will help prevent unneeded staring at the screen while you are figuring out your next code, or what you did.
• Set your character size and colors on your screen so that you don't need to squint at the screen to read it.  They should be casual, none eccentric colors so that the screen is easy to read.  I.e. ( Stay away from fluorescent colors, dark on dark, and light on light.  They may look cool, but your eyes will thank you later for not having them. )