Among my friends, I am the only one who works at a desk. By that I mean in an office. It may be strange, in fact a huge number of people around the globe are employed in offices, and yet I don’t know anybody else (except for my colleagues, naturally) who share the pros and cons of a sedentary job.
It so happens that I often have to explain around that it is not all fun and games. On the contrary, I would say. On top of the specific issues related to the company, which are pointless to mention in this context, more general and perhaps relevant issues come along with an office job. Let’s make it clear: it is not okay to sit all day; it really is bad if you don’t move enough. Sometimes, being out of shape is a (bad) lifestyle choice, some other times though, it is just a consequence of a job. Let’s suppose you have to work many hours sitting on your desk chair and you are unable to stand or have a break in which you can go for a walk; you are forced then into sedentariness every day, eight hours a day. Maybe you do a sport after work, but not everybody has the opportunity or time do to that. What happens is that you increase the risks of health problems. Which problems? Well, there are quite a lot, ranging from back, shoulder and neck aches to heart diseases, diabetes, blood circulation problems.
Whenever I explain this, the next question I get is: “what can you do to avoid incurring in health issues?”. This is when I begin detailing the wonders of the desk chair. It seems obvious, but a good desk chair truly changes the life of an office employee. If you have a quality desk chair, you will not suffer from back pain, and you will be able to work and be more productive. It is an big investment, unfortunately, as this is a pretty expensive item to get (unless you go cheap, but you really don’t want to), but it is an investment for a healthy life – which is what you want to aim at. Do not listen to your boss if he tells you that you can use a normal chair, demand to have a comfortable desk chair because it is really essential.
And if your friends do not understand that also working in an office can cause you serious problems, just remind them about what I just wrote.