The Covid-19 changes have come bounding into our lives, upending them. Here at TheJournal.ie, we are running a weekly Voices column, ‘Wellness Wednesday’, in which we feature advice and information from mental health professionals, yoga teachers, mindfulness practitioners and more. We hope this weekly section will help you, our readers, navigate this unprecedented shift in how we live.
This week, we hear from Dr Lawrence Woods, a chiropractor, who has specialised in posture for 30 years. He has some advice for anyone working from home:
NOW THAT MOST of us are unexpectedly working from home, we may find ourselves hunched over a laptop at our make-shift kitchen table workstation or worse the couch. While most offices are designed for proper ergonomics, now you are on your own and struggling to remember what height and angles suit you best for your chair and computer.
Often, it doesn’t take long for those old nagging back and neck pains to re-emerge.
The good news is that there has never been a better time for getting the basics right in how we sit, stand, and sleep. If you are missing any of these elements, you’re just not going to be as healthy as you could be. We have an incredible opportunity right now to develop simple habits that will have a lasting impact on our overall health.
How to get your sitting right
Let’s start with sitting. We all know that lengthy sitting is a health hazard – and the average person sits 10 hours a day. Prolonged sitting promotes dozens of chronic diseases including depression, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. That’s true even if you exercise as well as sitting.
Once you recognise the health risks posed by excessive sitting, the next step becomes how to change this unhealthy behaviour. Here’s the trick: Imagine your head as a bowling ball. Your head must be properly aligned to avoid undue stress on your neck and spine.
Avoid positioning your head forward; hold it upright instead to help line up your ears, shoulders, and hips. Sit with your feet flat on the floor with your hips above your knees. Lastly, avoid soft chairs and couches.
How to get your standing right
If you’re used to sitting for many hours a day, you shouldn’t expect to switch entirely to a standing position overnight. Take baby steps here. Start with 30 minutes the first day and add another 15-30 minutes each day until standing occupies most of your day.
If using a computer at home, try a standing desk. Alternatively, an ironing board, box, or an overturned wastebasket will do. The key here is that you cannot simply replace sitting with standing; it is possible to develop sedentary patterns standing just as with prolonged sitting.
Use standing as a way to promote more movement throughout the day. Walk around, shift positions, dance, whatever gets you moving more and prevents staying in one position all day.
How to get your sleep
It can be difficult to absolutely control getting eight hours of sleep. A third of your life is supposed to be spent sleeping, and if you don’t get this right, the rest of your day is off too.
Create a sleep sanctuary. This means removing items related to entertainment, electronic devices, and work and making your bedroom into a single-purpose space for sleeping only. Make sure your bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet. These three factors can have a significant impact on your sleep.
Get a decent mattress and pillow. It’s the best investment in your health you will ever make. A rule of thumb is to sleep as if you are standing up straight with your knees slightly bent.
If you are a side sleeper, your mattress should be somewhat softer for shoulder and hip absorption and use a pillow between your knees to keep your hips balanced. Back sleepers should have a slightly harder mattress and a pillow should be placed under the knees to keep the back muscles relaxed.
How to move all-day
Movement is the key. Mounting research confirms that to maintain optimal health, your body needs to spend the bulk of its time doing what it was designed to do: move. Ideally, you should move every 20 minutes, and a combination of sit-stand-move should be incorporated throughout your day.
Try timers or drink lots of water (which makes you get up often to pee) or, optimally, a two-minute walk every 20 minutes is a good start.
With every crisis comes a blessing, and there are no challenges without an opportunity. If we master the basics of sitting, standing, and sleeping, we will become more resilient and be much healthier in the post-Covid-19 world.
Dr Lawrence Woods studied and was licensed in physiotherapy and chiropractic. His work focuses on ergonomics, biomechanics, spinal therapies and functional design. He is the author of ‘Rethinking Posture In The Modern World’.
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Gardai are totally undervalued and under paid in our incredibly expensive society, give them everything they want and more and the nurses and the soldiers too. An all out strike is the only way to focus minds. Easy for the begrudgers to give out etc, but they like the rest of us rely on the Gardai and other services when things go tits up.
@Agrippa: Sure lets give everybody what they want. That will work out well. Let me guess, you live paycheck to paycheck?
Wage negotiations should be done between Unions and government behind closed doors full stop. The public should not be consulted on it or held to ransom if the unions fail to achieve whatever their demands. If your union fails the government who we elected to run the country said your demands aren’t justified and that should be the end of the matter. This should be brought into law asap
Gardai cant get restoration of pay cuts imposed in the recession , but there is plenty of pay rises for tram and bus drivers .
Semi state workers did not suffer the same cuts as public sector workers but are the first to be given rises .
Crazy situation that the emergency services are deemed less worthy than bus & tram drivers !
And government just gave themselves a pay rise in the last week after their summer break. Insult to injury!
If I called in sick 4 times and I wasn’t sick I would be fired. The public sector think they are special and with good reason: – none of them lost their jobs during recession – none of them took a pay cut – none of them lost their defined benefit pensions. Tis a great country if you are on the gravy train.
@ Ger Murphy. And you my friend are completely clueless..
@Ger Murphy: NOne took a pay cut? Are you insane?
I wish the government would go on strike indefinitely, – preferably without pay.
Do you know that a young Guard with a family is paid so little that he is entitled to the Family Income Supplement ? Some Guards have to decide what bills if any will be paid in any given month , Guards are losing their homes because they can’t afford their mortgage., sleeping in their cars because they can’t afford fuel to commute. All this why being employed in “a great job”. As regards the “perk” of early retirement. This was introduced because police the world over were dying soon after retirement if they worked 40+ years. Police early retirement is worldwide. NYPD give full pension after 20 years.
If your going to moan about the pay on a public forum at least put the rates up so we can see what’s what. Do you know that the same young Guard was told the rates before he signed up.
Would have thought the fact that a Garda can get social welfare (family income supplement) speaks for itself
Pay rates are a matter of public record – go look them up
Crime is bad enough with the gardai on the beat, god knows what it will be like without them
What Gardaí on the beat? There are so few out and about as it is. Good luck to them, though, they also have a lot to put up with and I hope they get decent terms without having to limit their service.
All they want is their wages restored back to what they were. It’s not an unreasonable request
As a serving member of the force having completed 30yrs plus am now eligible for retirement but find myself in a quandary. If I retire my pension is based on my current rate of pay which is 120€ less than what I was earning in 2008. I like many other public and private sector workers have taken the austerity, paid for children to attend college ” no grants for me” etc now it’s time for me to take leave of this great organisation but are being held over a barrel, if I retire I won’t benefit from future pay restoration as the link between pay and pensions has been broken.
Currently I like many others in this position are working weekly for less than minimum pay as we have already have our pension banked and are working just for the remaining half 15000€ after tax. When to take the cost of going to work the extra work load and responsibility that have been forced to take on, my financial adviser as told me that I’m mad to continue working under these conditions. All we’re looking for is our pay rights restored.
Spare us your whinging.
Oh Ger, another gem from you.. Clearly an intellectual!
The front line staff in this country should get proper pay for the great work they do. The shower in charge of this country should stop fattening. Up their own pension pot & big salaries , & look after the people that are looking after the people of this country
Wasn’t there a huge bank robbery during the last blue flu?
I think special permission was given to GRA members in the emergency response unit to not be sick that day and the ERU intercepted and detained the robbers.
How can an individual guard hold his or her head up and tell someone they’re breaking the law when they too are blatantly and openly doing it themselves. Whatever you think of the merits of the strike this is going to undermine their authority big time.
@mickmc: They can do so by holding their head high for putting up with this abysmal pay rate thus far and fiinally reaching breaking point. As much as people might feel uneasy about them striking, I think the public mostly supports their cause. The Commissioner and the Government are very much at fault here. Hearing Paschal Donoghue yesterday waffle on about it yesterday really got on my nerves. The money isn’t there? Tell that to the local councillors that are getting a pay raise when the people on the front line protecting the public are being ignored.
I’ve a grievance with the government too. I think I pay too much tax. Will I go out and break the law so as to reduce my tax bill? If we all start doing that we might as well have anarchy.
@mickmc: Anarchy wouldnt be a bad thing compared to the flawed system we have now
What flawed system would that be Neville. The one where people get paid what they agreed to in the term and conditions of their employment. If the guards is such a bad job why is there multiple number of application for every job available. It can’t be all that bad.
Plenty of red thumb’s but no answer as to why so many people want to become guards. Could it be that although the pay not great after a few year it increases dramatically and if you can keep your nose clean it a guaranteed pay packet for life. And of course there’s the added bonus of a good pension for life after you have served 30 years.
Mickymc….settle
@mickmc: speeding is a crime, are we all now criminals?
The Gardai going on strike is like the tail waging the dog if the government allows this to happen without serious implications for those involved in this state treason and all respect due to the policing of our state will be dissolved
@Paul Lane: How do you figure? Surely they are as entitled to a return to civilised pay scheme as anyone else employed by the state? When striking is not an option, how else can they get their message across?
Just like the luas and bus drivers showed no respect for the citizens of dublin
Did you condem them too when they held people to ranson for pay RISES
The Garda are looking for pay RESTORATION !
Restoration ! So you want to go back to the point when you got preferential mortgages super early retirement, overtime paid for hours yous never worked. Not to mention all the “other” favours that goes on within the force. Some cheek.
Preferential mortgages that we still have to pay, retirement after 30 years work, overtime paid that isnt worked, really!! And “other” favours which are what exactly. Working night, bank holidays, Christmas, yes its some cheek alright! :-/
@ Paul Lane….anything else to say Einstein
@…: Garda Goldens family would beg to differ
Gardai take an oath to uphold the law without fear or favour. What is an oath worth if it can be broken so easily without repercussions.
The fact that they are willing to break that oath should speak volumes to the government.
Speaks volumes of the guards anyway maybe the guards need to send stronger negotiators to the table I’m sure they have within there ranks people who can go into a meeting and squeeze more out of the government without including the general public.. They do it every day in interview rooms with all sorts of criminals using whatever means necessary
By that logic Ulrick the government could decide not to pay guards at all and you’ll say they should just get on with it because they took an oath.
Being a Garda is a vocation. If the government genuinely went bust I would expect the Gardai along with the fire service, doctors and nurses to costinue serving the people. Obviously we as a people would have to learn to protect ourselves and those Gardai and other essential services.
That sounds like the ‘entitlement’ mentality I’ve learnt to expect on this site. ‘I want a free house, money handed to me and a public service that dances to my tune because Im entitled’ We’re a long way from the country going bust like you’re describing.
I would like to say that it is your type of mentality I’ve learnt to expect on this site. You don’t know me but I have worked all my adult life and pay my taxes. I live on a house I paid for over 20 years. You are so typical. Mt point was for the less intelligent such as yourself is that even if the health service colapsed and no wages were paid I would not expect a doctor or nurse to walk away from a sick child. Likewise being a Garda is also a vocation. Imagine a priest refusing to give the last eights because he wasn’t paid.
@Ulick McGee…it must be rough living on a house…you should think about getting off the roof and living under it..much more comfortable
You are a hoot..you really are, a hoot.
@Ulick McGee: Would you the people aka farmers, tailors, etc continue to provide my family with food, clothing, heat and shelter without payment then?
Can we deal with facts here! Let us have a comparison of European police pay and conditions bonuses, all allowances, hours of work ! Years to work before pension, amount of pension, sick pay, ratio of Garda to sergeants, inspectors, superintendents, deputy commissioners and commissioners etc. Include whether armed or not including tasters, spray etc.
It shouldn’t be a direct comparison, you also need to factor in the various costs of living in other locations, including within Ireland, to get an accurate comparison. I saw this done in a report about Dublin Bus. The drivers were the 3rd highest paid in a direct comparison but 6th highest when cost of living factored it.
The bus drivers were still up there, just not as high as some commentators made out but such accuracy is important in these things.
Lets start with direct comparisons of politicians pay on a like for like basis
@Donal Bell: Apples and Oranges. You’d need take in the entire social systems in place and cost of living to be scientific. There has been 9 pay reviews , all positive. The last agreement Haddington had a pay review scheduled in the text, that seems to have had one sole member, he could never complete such a vast and important review, it was never a serious attempt to evaluate,, could be viewed as breach of contract, but member has now left for health reasons, maybe true or maybe he is on a golf course. The timing of announcement at least looked wrong. Any reporters left in Ireland ?
What happened is the benchmarking process in 2000′s as Gardai couldn’t strike and also at that time and even now , they do not have direct union status, which meant they never got the figures quoted in media other sectors got, they didn’t get into the room in most cases but would be consulted by the larger unions on their offer. Nor were they greedy, when figures of 12%-15% were out they were getting and accepting 4.5%. So when the cuts came they were affected disproportionately, they are now double digits behind sectors like the prison, nursing they would be normally be pegged too. In short they took a hit of 130/140 a week into hand, government is offering 12 euro back by end of agreement. Abit of straight talk would help people make up minds on fairness of it, its not a pay rise but pay restoration or a process and path of restoration. You sign up to lansdowne you cannot mention pay till end of agreement.
@ Donal Bell…here’s a fact for you…you need to be tasered for you idiotic comments…and just when you’re about to talk nonsense again you should be pepper sprayed…not once but twice for good measure just incase you think about taking utter tripe again.. think before you type…
@Donal Bell: You ask that over and over. You know the answer, its been given before by me
A, Garda in training 10,000 per annum. On graduation 23000 basic + 7000 in allowances approx
B, London MET, 24,000 sterling in training, 27,000 sterling + allowanes. Similar allowances but instead of rent allowance they are provided housing.
C, Spanish national police, 20,000 in training, 24,000 + allowances on graduation. Similar allowances but no rent allowance as they are not forbidden from working in their own areas. There is however danger allowance for Basque region and city allowance for Madrid, etc. Guardia civil start on 20,000 but are given free housing and board. Local police depends on area, roughly the same as national but without allowances.
D, Gendarmes in France, 26000 on graduation (I dont know while being trained)
E, Germany. 28.000 plus allowances (I am unsure of what allowances)
F, PSNI 24,000 sterling in training, 26000 + allowances on graduation
All make more money but only London is more expensive a place to live.
It won’t be a blue flu in November, it will be a blue famine!
The problem it seems is that as a republic we have never introduced civil code legal.All republics have civil code legal or the option to take a case to a civil code court of law. Brussels operate under civil code,Strasburg operate under civil code which are more effecient legal courts as they dispense with costly legal precadent research and time consuming process s which see applicants getting decisions within a week in some cases. Common law was introduced a millennia ago to speed up Brehon law which after 5000 years had ground to a halt due to its complex nature. Is not the same phenomena happening again. The Gardai uphold the law however if the ancient legal system of Ireland cannot be modernised to reflect the social and cultural changes of the 21century then the leading citizens of our law enforcement are faced with a unique and intolerable set of working conditions.The founders of our state would probably agree
They certainly proclaimed a republic but a republic without they legal system of a republic is a questionable republic something Mr Noonan will unfortunately discover when he takes an appeal to the courts of Strasburg. I can just hear it now Yes Mr Noonan a republic may set its own taxs under the civil code of a republic.But where Mr Noonan is your courts of civil code and whoch civil code solicotors or accountants signed off on your tax deal?
The Gardai are not at fault here and the solicitors should be out in support of them.A republic without a civil code legal system just isnt a republic.English common law is no longer working it too has ground to a halt like the Brehon laws it refreshed.
Time for a referendum.
@Natural Habitats Detroit: You mean Tort? We have that
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