Your Body Almanac

Working from the couch or bed

Laptop on your lap, pillows behind your back, no commute and no desk.

Working from home can be good for your sleep and stress, but a couch or bed is not a workstation. A laptop on your lap forces you to choose between a bent neck and bent wrists. Without a commute, many people also move far less and let work spill into the evening.

01

Bent neck and rounded back

With the screen in your lap, your head drops forward and your back rounds into the cushions. Hours of this a day load the neck and upper back. Raising the screen to eye level, even with books, and using a separate keyboard fixes most of it.

SourcesOffice ergonomics: Your how-to guide (Mayo Clinic)Neck Pain (OrthoInfo, AAOS)
Check your desk setupAs neededSet chair, keyboard and screen so you can work in a relaxed, neutral posture. Do chin tucksDailyGlide your head straight back to counter the forward-head posture that screens and desks encourage. Extend your upper back over a chairDailyGently bend your mid-back backwards over a chair to counter hours of rounding forward. Stretch your chest in a doorwayDailyOpen up chest and shoulder muscles that tighten from hunching over desks, steering wheels and phones.
02

Wrists bent on soft surfaces

Typing on a laptop resting on a pillow or your legs bends your wrists up and presses the heels of your hands down. Tingling or numbness in the fingers is a signal to change your setup.

SourcesCarpal Tunnel Syndrome (OrthoInfo, AAOS)
Check your desk setupAs neededSet chair, keyboard and screen so you can work in a relaxed, neutral posture. Stretch your wrists and forearmsDailyGentle wrist flexor and extensor stretches for hands that type, grip or tap all day. Do tendon glides for your handsDailyMove your fingers through five positions to help the tendons slide smoothly through the wrist.
03

Even less moving than at the office

No commute, no walk to a meeting room or lunch spot. Some remote workers take only a few hundred steps on a workday. Long sitting is linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

SourcesWhat are the risks of sitting too much? (Mayo Clinic)
Get up and move every 30 minutesDailyBreak up long stretches of sitting with a few minutes of standing or walking. Take a brisk daily walkDailyWalk at a pace that raises your breathing for at least 10 minutes a day, building up over time. Strength-train twice a weekWeeklyWork all your major muscle groups on at least two days a week.
04

Bed becomes the office

Working in bed teaches your brain to link bed with alertness, which can make it harder to fall asleep there at night. Keeping the bed for sleep helps.

SourcesAbout Sleep (CDC)Insomnia (NHS)
Set a screen curfewDailyTurn off phones, laptops and TV at least 30 minutes before bed, and longer if you can. Keep a consistent sleep scheduleDailyGo to bed and get up at the same times every day, weekends included, and aim for at least 7 hours.

When to see a professional

See a doctor or physical therapist for numbness or tingling in your hands that wakes you at night, pain that runs down an arm or leg, or neck or back pain lasting more than a few weeks.