Dealing with Posture Problems?

WebfishUK asks: "Musculo-skeletal problems (such as back pain) affect most computer users sooner or later. Like others I spend many hours sat in front of a computer and wonder what the long-term health implications will be. I recently came across a website for an application called Posture Minder which apparently runs in the background and uses your web-cam to monitor how you are sitting and warn you about bad posture habits. It sounds like a neat idea (prevention being the best cure and all that), although the website doesn't have a download. Do Slashdot readers have other devices or any habits that they have adopted to mitigate the health risks of spending a lot of time in front of a computer?"

Comments

Re:One more reason to bemoan the good old days ...

[tomhudson]

Have you ever tried it? Just google for "dog blood pressure". Other studies also showed that the mere presence of a dog during a meeting led to fewer "pissing contests" between meeting participants, and more productive meetings, even if all the dog did was sit curled up in a corner ignoring everyone. Not having a pet in the office is costing businesses billions a year in sick days, lost productivity, extra medical costs, etc.

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/38/4 /815 American Heart Association: Pet Ownership, but Not ACE Inhibitor

Therapy, Blunts Home Blood Pressure Responses to Mental Stress

Abstract---- In the present study, we evaluated the effect of a nonevaluative social support intervention (pet ownership) on blood pressure response to mental stress before and during ACE inhibitor therapy. Forty-eight hypertensive individuals participated in an experiment at home and in the physician's office. Participants were randomized to an experimental group with assignment of pet ownership in addition to lisinopril (20 mg/d) or to a control group with only lisinopril (20 mg/d). On each study day, blood pressure, heart rate, and plasma renin activity were recorded at baseline and after each mental stressor (serial subtraction and speech). Before drug therapy, mean responses to mental stress did not differ significantly between experimental and control groups in heart rate (94 [SD 6.8] versus 93 [6.8] bpm), systolic blood pressure (182 [8.0] versus 181 [8.3] mm Hg), diastolic blood pressure (120 [6.6] versus 119 [7.9] mm Hg), or plasma renin activity (9.4 [0.59] versus 9.3 [0.57] ng mL-1 h-1). Lisinopril therapy lowered resting blood pressure by {approx}35/20 mm Hg in both groups, but responses to mental stress were significantly lower among pet owners relative to those who only received lisinopril (P<0.0001; heart rate 81 [6.3] versus 91 [6.5] bpm, systolic blood pressure 131 [6.8] versus 141 [7.8] mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure 92 [6.3] versus 100 [6.8] mm Hg, and plasma renin activity 13.9 [0.92] versus 16.1 [0.58] ng mL-1 h-1). We conclude that ACE inhibitor therapy alone lowers resting blood pressure, whereas increased social support through pet ownership lowers blood pressure response to mental stress.

http://whyfiles.org/shorties/cat_stress.html

As the experiment began, the subjects started controlling their blood pressure with lisinopril, an inhibitor of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). Although lisinopril reduced systolic pressure to an average of 123 mm, it was far less effective in controlling the rise in pressure that occurs during stress.

Better than drugs!

At the outset, half the broker-guinea pigs were directed to choose a cat or a dog as a pet. The fun part came when these guinea pigs were asked to do mental arithmetic -- or (we love it!) -- to respond to an experimenter who, posing as a client, demanded: "Upon your advice, I lost $86,000. What are you going to do about it?"

The demand stressed the non-pet owners enough to essentially cancel the benefit of the ACE inhibitor, Allen says, yet the systolic pressure among pet owners rose only 9 mm. Furthermore, their pulse rose by 10 beats per minute, less than half the 21-beat rise seen in the control group.

In other words, pets were much better at reducing the stress-induced rise in blood pressure than the drug.

http://www.wcanews.com/archives/2000/Feb/feb00j.ht m

Pets prove better than drug for high blood pressure

High blood pressure has become one of the most common health problems in the country today, a byproduct of high-stress and poor diet. To correct the problem, many medical doctors have turned to drugs, such as ACE inhibitors.