Spiralling upwards towards Internet health

Unbeknown to most, there are many health-related issues when it comes to surfing the Web and these go beyond the obvious danger of electrocution during bath time browsing. Pressed further on what health concerns could associate themselves with the Internet, your average Joe or Josephine would probably mention something with the words 'spam' and 'Viagra' in the same sentence.

Now while electrocution and erectile dysfunction may be subjects one can research on the World Wide Web, they have little to do with how the Internet can affect your health. One's personal wellbeing is tied to the Web in so many interrelated and surprising ways that Afrihost, as an Internet Service Provider (ISP), felt it necessary to conduct research on the subject in order to promote a healthy corps of South African Web surfers.

The first and most obvious way in which surfing the Web can impact on one's personal wellbeing is through posture. It may feel supremely comfy to position your legs on either side of your laptop while your bottom slides further down the seat as the megabytes disappear, but a couple of decades of this A-grade slouching and you can look forward to conversations with your knees. We encourage our employees to implement the following practical tips to ensure they are able to give Buckingham Palace's famously upright guards a run for their bearskins:

* Your forearms should be approximately horizontal and your eyes the same height as the top of the computer monitor or laptop screen.
* Store your half-ton lunchbox somewhere else so that there are no obstacles under your desk preventing your legs from moving freely.
* While some movement is desirable and you should stand frequently while at work, avoid repeated stretching to reach things you need by arriving at work a few minutes early to organise your desk in the most efficient manner.

Finally, consider using a high quality, adjustable office chair with arm rests. For an office worker to skimp on a chair makes about as much sense as a handyman buying a plastic hammer.

It is vital to understand that posture equals practice. Take a few minutes after each browser-busting session to realign your posture with three simple yet powerful exercises from, oddly, Better Homes & Gardens:

Neck-craning is a common behaviour for those Web surfers who are choosing online over time over optometrist time. This subtle move will counteract neck-craning caused by dodgy vision or tired eyes. Bring your teeth gently together and slowly, softly glide your head backward a few centimetres without tilting it until you feel mild tension. Hold for 5-10 seconds and repeat.

Extend your arms out and up to about shoulder height, bent at elbows with palms pointing up. Squeeze your shoulder blades together. You should feel a stretch along your chest and the front of your shoulders. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat 5 times.

This technique trains your pelvis to support your spine. Stand using good posture. Relax your hips and let your buttocks protrude somewhat. Place thumbs on lower ribs and fingers on hip bones. Tuck your buttocks under so your hip bones line up under your lower ribs. Hold for 5 seconds then repeat three times.

Finally, as far as posture goes, it is useful to know exactly what we should all be aiming for. Most of us naturally assume, for whatever reason, that proper posture is sitting bolt upright with our hips flexed as 90 degrees. As it turns out, a slightly reclined posture with the hips flexed at 100 to 115 degrees is idea for those of us confined to desks for much of our working day. If you are mathematically-challenged like me, I suggest you purchase one of those clear plastic thingies we used at school to determine degrees. It would be extremely useful to place one of those upright at your desk as a constant reminder of the ideal sitting posture.

The Internet, and especially gaming, comes in for some especially unfair criticism when it comes to personal health. We've all read unfortunate news articles about Joe Sukuzi from Japan who suffered a heart attack after a marathon online gaming session but little mention is made of how access to the web can improve one's physical health.

For one thing, if you're like me, any indication of physical illness immediately sees me typing keywords into a search engine to see just how long I have to live. While my paranoia may serve no useful purpose in the vast majority of cases, it is no stretch to imagine that many people have received useful medical information via the Internet that led them to book life-saving doctors' appointments.

The Internet can put you in touch with gyms in your area, hook you up with training partners or generally pique your interest in a brand new physical pastime that you previously never even considered. However, if you are finding that your time online is competing with your exercise regimen, try these novel suggestions:

* Increase your mobility: Fixed line ADSL is the best Internet access deal in South Africa when it comes to cost and reliability. However, it does mean your Internet connection comes out of a wall so it would be worthwhile to invest in a mobile handset that is Internet and email-enabled. This would mean the luxury of being able to nip off to the gym in the middle of the day safe in the knowledge that you can deal with any urgent emails. You can even proactively compose emails between exercise sets so that your gym session flies and is productive to boot!
* Do your thinking outdoors: Because much of what we do at work today is intellectual compared to physical, there's not much point staring at your computer screen straining your eyes trying to come up with the next hot campaign idea when you could be doing exactly the same thing outdoors. So if your fingers are lying idle while your brain is active go, for a brisk walk and be inspired. Once the brainwave has hit, quickly return to the office and write it all up.
* Work is work, play is play: The availability of social networking tools and instant messaging means that too many people are spending extended periods at their desks engaged in a mix of work-related and personal communication at the same time. Resist the temptation and set your IM channel, for example, to 'busy' or 'unavailable' during the work day so that you are able to complete your work within the allotted time. Then, briefly after work, devote a specific period of time to social networking and then call it quits so you can get to the gym before the hordes arrive. Your physical health will improve and your mental space will be less cluttered.

All of the above is easy to write about but much more difficult to implement. The good news is that good habits, like bad habits, become hard to break. This is why the sooner you get started implementing the hints and tips above, the sooner you'll experience an upward spiral into good Internet health and a great life.