With most people today spending the majority of their working days in front of a computer screen, the need for regular stretching and movement of the body is critical. Sitting in front of a computer forces us to sit in an un-natural position, hunched up, shoulders tensed, with an incorrect back alignment.

The problem is even worse for laptop users, who must change the position of their neck to see the screen, and also contort their posture even more in order to use the keyboard on their lap.

Combined with the mental strain of staring at a screen, the modern lifestyle of “doing nothing” while sitting in front of a screen actually places a great deal of stress on our bodies.

Research done over the past decade has shown that nobody can manage the long term strain that the combination of mouse, keyboard and strain places on the body for 10 years without some problem developing. The solution researches have concluded is that people should rotate between work and other activities at regular intervals.
Making a habit of short breaks, for instance one every hour breaks up unconscious bad posture that develops from working in front of the computer.

Taking time to do this may be hard for some workers due to shortage of time and freedom in the office environment, but yoga offers a solution that can be done anywhere, and will have remedial benefits to office aches and pains.

There are a number of simple Asanas offered by many yoga products out there that address the problems that may develop due to stress and strain of the hands, shoulders and neck. These can be practiced at your desk, or on your yoga mat.

The Diamond Posture (Vajrasana)

Kneel down beside your desk with your knees close together. Sit back on your heels and stretch up from your hips, balancing your head well so that you could draw a straight line through your ear, shoulder, elbow and hip. Sit up as straight as possible and let you back stretch.

The Twist (Bhardwajasana)

Kneel on the floor and sit back, bringing both feet to the right of your hips. Straighten your right arm, bring it across your body and turn to the left. Place your hand, palm down under your left knee. Exhale, turn your body more to the left and clasp your right elbow with your left hand, from the back. Turn your head and gaze over your right shoulder. Fold position for a few breaths and then twist and look back over your left shoulder. Shoulders should be at right angles to the body. Come back to starting position and repeat on other side. You should do this posture once every hour if you have lower back pain

Click. Point. Click. Point. Oh the clicking and pointing and the hurting!

Jokes aside it is a serious issue. You can only use one part of your body in one repetitive way for so long before you begin to feel pain, and you might know a lot of keyboard shortcuts, but chances are you still point n’ click your mouse like a pointy-clicky-thing more days than not.

Whether you call it “Mouse-hand” or “Mouse-itis” or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) any true geek (or office worker general for that matter) will know what I mean: pain that starts in the hand and works it’s way up through the wrist and potentially even up the arm.

Yoga can help to alleviate or prevent this problem. You don’t even need to get up! Next time you’re downloading a huge file (or watching a software tutorial) just practice this simple routine of yoga for the wrists.

Wrist bending

1. Sit up straight in your chair.
2. Hold your arms straight out out in front of you (yes, you WILL need to let go of the mouse!)
3. Turn your palm down to face the floor, fingers stretched out straight. Your arms should be parallel to the floor.
4. Inhale as you lift your fingers up, bending from the wrists so that your palms face away from you like you were hand-signaling an oncoming truck to stop. (Oh - probably not a very relaxing analogy! Sorry!)
5. Feel that stretch? That’s a good thing (just go easy, don’t turn a ’stretch’ into a ’strain’).
6. Exhale as you lower your palms again, continuing until your fingers are pointing at the floor. Your arms should stay in the same position, just bend from the wrist. You should feel a nice stretch in your forearm.
   
7. Repeat several times.
   
8. Get back to work.

This should increase strength and flexibility in your wrists and help to alleviate the pain caused by repeated use of the mouse.

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As a person who spends long hours sitting in front of a screen, I did a lot of research before I decided that yoga was what I needed to help my with my overstressed and under exercised geek lifestyle.

Yoga is an incredibly rewarding and fun group of exercises, one enjoyed by people of all ages from all over the world. Many people who try it report that is makes them a different, more calm and relaxed person. The challenge of overcoming the difficulty of the postures, combined with the sense of wellbeing that they give over time makes yoga a worthwhile pursuit.

Even though we may end our busy days tired and fatigued from long work hours, knowing about some of the specific mental and physical health benefits of yoga will give you the extra motivation to get on the mat. The benefits that yoga practice offered are many, and each different form of yoga has its own separate claims of benefits and results. But in general all forms of yoga will give you a fundamental set of worth while benefits

Mental Benefits

While most people concentrate on the physical side of yoga, the mental benefits for our stressed out modern minds can be even more impressive. A sense of calm: Practicing Yoga asana is very physical. Each posture requires great concentration, a focus on one specific goal only at that time. When you concentrate intently on your body alone it, has the effect of calming the mind. Yoga is also closely related to, and incorporates meditation techniques, such as watching how you breathe and disengagement from your thoughts, which help calm the mind. Stress Reduction: The physical side of yoga is great for distressing the body. Because of the concentration and focus required your daily troubles, both large and small seem to melt away, helping to bring your life more into perspective

Yoga places a large focus on being in the moment, and learning not to dwell on past events or anticipate the future is great for relieving stress . You will leave a yoga class with lesser stressed than when you started.

Body Awareness: Practicing yoga will give you an increased awareness of your own body. You are usually called upon to make small, subtle movements to improve your alignment. This will increase your level of comfort in your own body over time, thus leading to improved posture and greater self-confidence.

Physical Benefits

Flexibility: The various positions of yoga increase flexibility by acting on the bodys joints. This gives you a greater freedom and range of movement, decreasing the risk of injury to your hamstrings, back, shoulders, and hips over time

Strength: Many asana need you to support your full body weight with various muscle groups. These can include balancing on one leg (such as in Tree Pose) or supporting yourself with your arms (such as in Downward Facing Dog). Moving between in a slow, controlled manner also requires the development of strength

Pain and Illness Prevention: The strength and flexibility benefits of yoga can help prevent modern aliments such as back pain caused by too much driving, web surfing and general screen focussed lifestyle. A workout with Yoga massages all of the organs in your body, and it is said as being perhaps the only activity that is able to massage all the internal glands and organs of the body in a thorough way. Yoga also improves your posture and alignment, which helps prevent many other types of pain.

Better Breathing: Most of us breathe very shallowly into the lungs and take breathing for granted and without much thought. Yoga breathing exercises, called Pranayama, direct the attention on the breath and teach us how to better use our lungs, which benefits the entire body. Certain types of breath can also help unblock the nasal passages and even calm the central nervous system, which has both physical and mental benefits.

Total body detoxification: By gently exercising and stretching the muscles and joints through yoga, your body’s blood supply starts working better and quicker, and this aids in the flushing out of toxins as well as providing nourishment up to the last point.

Well there is the long list of fantastic benefits that yoga practice can achieve. As a yogageek I know that they have helped me out with neck and shoulder pain associated with screen time and stress.