Personal computers enhance our lives in many ways; convenience, ease of networking, commercial and creative advantage. Lots of home computers means lots of people often sitting in one position for lengthy periods. Balance being the key to a healthy lifestyle, we need to proactively take steps to counter this additional sedentary factor.

There are some easy ways to heal and deal around the uneasy marriage of body and computer. Stiff shoulders and necks are a major issue among computer users, especially in the part of the trapezius muscle just inside the topmost/innermost section of the shoulder blade, between the blade and the spine. Chronic tension in this area can lead to calcification, or the building of bone tissue in the muscle, which can lead to a multitude of problems.

Suggestions: 1) Type with your hands low. Your hands on the keyboard should be no higher than about one inch below the level of your solar plexus; any higher forces your shoulders to stay poised above their lowest possible resting point, creating unnecessary tension. Stay aware of what that lowest resting point is, and either use a shorter table, pillows to raise yourself up, a taller chair, or the keyboard on your lap. 2) Take regular breaks to raise and lower your shoulders in superslow motion. Start at the bottom of the lowest resting point of the shoulders and very gradually raising your shoulders as high as they will go (up around your ears), then very gradually lowering them to the lowest resting point again. Repeat this motion several times, the slower the better. 3) Undulate in your chair from time to time. I know that sounds weird, but try it…move from your trunk and at all your joints, all at the same time; for greatest benefit, move as slowly as you can. Bodies need to move often to stay happy. 4) Get up at least once every 30 minutes to move around. 5) Get regular bodywork.

For the men: Sitting a lot in an office-style or any hard chair can mean more prostatic stress. Nearly all men run into prostate issues at one point or another, and not just the elders among us. Notice the flow of your pee; is it strong from start to finish? If not, or if you seem to have the urge to go a lot even if you’re not drinking many fluids, it’s time to deal. For the full-meal-deal, locate on your body what the ancient Chinese referred to as “the million dollar point”, or the soft tissue just underneath and adjacent to your anus. While sitting in your office chair, put the middle and ring fingers against this point and use your body weight to allow yourself to sink onto your fingers, as deeply as you can without it hurting. Rotate your fingers three times clockwise, then counterclockwise, repeat both directions about five times, then switch hands for comfort and do it all again. If it’s easier, you can stand up or lay on your back and perform the move that way. This is a do-it-yourself prostate massage, a great proactive tool for keeping your prostate healthy and disgorging any trapped fluid buildup in the gland. This is best accomplished with clothes but not through jeans.

Other ways to support a healthy prostate include kegel-style pelvic floor squeezes, again best done slowly (ask a mother what kegels are!), occasionally and intentionally squeezing off the flow of pee, ejaculating at least semi-regularly, and being moderate with wheat, refined sugars, alcohol and caffeine.