How to sit properly when you're working from home

In the right circumstances, working from home can be a delight. Without having to worry about catching the train, your commute or being surrounded by colleagues, you can feel infinitely more relaxed about the way you work. For some, this means working on a laptop in bed while others may prefer to slouch on the sofa.

The trouble is that by mid-afternoon, these positions can leave your lower back aching, your neck sore, and your eyes tired. Turns out those lumbar-supporting chairs in your office do have some advantages after all.

So how do you stay healthy and keep your posture on form while you're working from home?

"People can only do the best that they can and accept it's not going to be a perfect working environment," says Marc Holl, head of physiotherapy and clinical development lead at Nuffield Health.

"However, you want to try to mimic a typical office working environment. Working on the sofa or bed wouldn't be highly recommended because you are going to naturally slouch into what I call 'Netflix positions'."

As well as being bad for your physical health, this can also be bad for your mental performance as it doesn't allow you to feel professional or get into "work mode". These positions can put a lot of strain on your lower back and certain muscles, which aren't used to being in these positions for long periods.

"Moving down from having a dedicated office at home would be working at a dining room table or a breakfast bar in the kitchen where you can at least try to sit in a healthy, good sitting posture," says Holl.

However, he admits that he's "not a massive fan of telling people they must sit up straight and make sure that everything is at right angles". Instead, he recommends sitting in your natural position and going with your natural posture.

"Have a chair with a back rest," instructs Holl. "Try to avoid those breakfast stools or chairs without a back rest. You want to have a back rest whether it's an ergonomically designed one or it's just a dining room chair."

And while it's not necessary if you're not used to it, it can be easy to create a decent lumbar support in a standard chair to improve your posture.

"Grab a towel from the airing cupboard, wrap it up using a hair band, an elastic band or your dressing gown belt. Tie it around to mimic a lumbar roll. Pop that lumbar roll between your back and the dining room chair to mimic your normal sitting posture with the office chair."

Another factor is that while many workers will have a desktop computer at work, they might be forced to use a laptop when working from home with a smaller screen and potentially not in a great position.

"I'd make the recommendation to buy a fairly cheap keyboard and a cheap mouse online, and then when the parcel arrives, turn the box upside down, put the laptop on the box to try to increase the height of the laptop then use your new mouse and keyboard as your peripherals for the laptop," he explains.

"The top of your laptop screen needs to be level with your eyebrows in an ideal situation. Whether you're using a box and two or three other boxes or a few books or folders to try to increase the height, look around the home, there'll be something available to you to try to increase that screen height.

"Prolonged looking down could contribute to neck strain and neck pain," continues Holl.

"Keeping it in a natural forward-looking position can minimise risk of developing neck strain. If you're not holding your head correctly you could then be straining your eyes because you're using your eye movements rather than using your neck, which is stronger. Having your neck up allows your eyes and neck to be in a neutral position."

However, if you don't have peripherals like a USB keyboard and mouse, it's best to keep your laptop on a flat surface. You don't want your arms floating up in the air on the keyboard, says Holl, because this can cause strain in your wrists.

Lastly, take time away from the screen.

"All physios will agree that every 20 minutes you need to get up and move around, even if you're still on a conference call or a Skype call or a telephone call," explains Holl, revealing that he is walking around his own home as he shares these tips. "Movement is key."

One of his top tips is to drink lots of water because not only does it hydrate the body and the eyes, it also encourages you to take regular breaks to get up and go to the toilet, which you might not do otherwise.

Stretching is also important.

"Put your hands on your bum and stretch backwards to look up to the ceiling, just to give a stretch in the opposite direction to where they've probably been sitting," suggests Holl.

He also recommends "deskercise": "Knees to chest, ankles over your opposite knee to stretch their hips, arms up to the ceiling, then out to the side, then behind their back. It's often just about getting up and moving."

Really, it's just about trying to imitate your normal work environment as best you can, and that includes getting up to get yourself a coffee or chat with colleagues.