You stare at a screen all day — here’s how to fix the damage

Look familiar?

About a year and a half ago, while I was still working for a venture-funded startup, I was starting to see all of the classic signs of too much screen time: neck pain, eye twitches, random headaches.

It’s pretty common knowledge at this point that one of the best things you can do for your health is spend less time in front of a screen. Everyone from doctors to journalists will tell you that limiting your time in front of TV and computers is a good thing. But as someone who works in, on, and with software for a living, that’s a lot easier said than done. Not only did I not want to look at a screen less, I’d literally have to get a new job to do so.

This is true for basically anyone with a modern professional job, even people who don’t actively work on software: screens are a massive part of our lives. All of my knowledge-worker friends — accountants, architects, lawyers, etc — clock a ton of time in front of a screen every day. And what do we all do when we get home, or between bouts of work? Social media, text messages, Netflix, and so-on.

Getting out of your chair, outside, and away from a screen more often is definitely a good thing, but telling someone who has chosen to make their living in front of a screen “you need to only look at a screen for 2–4 hours per day” is not only inadvisable, it’s in many cases impossible.

The point of being healthy is so that we have the energy and ability to do the things that we love, and me telling you to stop doing things that you enjoy just because they involve screens is silly.

That said, too much screen time is undoubtedly not good for your body. So if you’re going to spend a bunch of time in front of a screen, it is worth your time to spend some concerted effort undoing the damage that causes.

Before we get started, this article makes a few assumptions about you, the person reading it: like me, you’re engaged in a computer-focused profession, you spend a lot of time on your phone,, and you enjoy a little screen-based entertainment (TV, video games, whatever). You didn’t really have to worry too much in the past, but you’re starting to feel some of the negative effects of this life that you’ve chosen.

Step one: realize that your body requires regular maintenance.

Just like would change your brake pads or grease the chain on your bike, your body requires maintenance to keep functioning in an ideal state. You can get away with skipping your maintenance for a while. You can also get away with skipping oil changes in your car for a while, until the heat from lack of lubrication causes the your pistons to weld themselves to the inside of the cylinders. Now imagine instead of pistons, it’s the muscles in your lower back. Not ideal.

Step two: perform that maintenance!

The way that a vast majority of us work (sitting, head forward, hunched over) lead to the same problems, and the fix is the same too: mobility exercises. Specifically, we need to un-fuck your spine, un-round your shoulders, and un-glue your hips and lower back. While you should also ideally be working in a way that is less damaging to these body parts, that’s a topic for another day.

We’ll work from the top. You should definitely do these exercises, as often as daily, if you’re experiencing pain or tightness in these areas. If you’re not, don’t worry about it so much, but still put in some effort on a weekly basis.

Pick and choose what works for you, but prioritize what you’re having issues with. I do all of them at least once per week, and some more frequently depending on where I’m hurting. I’ve chosen exercises that require no equipment (or just things you’ll have lying around the house), so no excuses.

Exercises to fix standard computer posture

The Neck

Your neck is sad because your cervical spine is designed to curve backwards, not forward. When you lean forward over a computer all day, the weight of your head pulls it into the opposite curvature. This can lead to neck pain (obviously), but can also lead to headaches and pain in the rest of your back.

Neck Rotation

This exercise provides a light stretch and, more importantly, warm ups the muscles of the neck to prevent injury during more intense stretching.

• Starting with your chin on your chest, rotate slowly counterclockwise until your head is tilted over your right shoulder. Get your ear as close to your shoulder as possible without lifting either shoulder.
• Next, rotate slowly from tilting over your right shoulder to your head straight back. Look as far behind yourself as possible without leaning backwards
• Next, rotate slowly from straight back to tilting over your left shoulder, ear as close to the shoulder as possible.
• Return your head to the starting position.
• Each rotation should take roughly 10 seconds.
• Repeat 2 more times, and then go 3 times in the opposite direction.

Direct Neck Stretches

These stretches are better for getting deep into the tissue, but can be intense. Be gentle at first, and take special care in the head-back position.

• Start chin-to-chest, and using your hands, pull gently downwards on your neck. Hold for 30 seconds.
• Move to tilting over your left shoulder, and pull gently downward with your left hand. Hold for 30 seconds.
• Look up and back. Hold for 30 seconds.
• Tilt over your right shoulder, and pull gently downward with your right hand. Hold for 30 seconds.

The Shoulders and Upper Back

Your shoulders hurt because you allow them to roll in and forward while you sit at your computer, putting excess curvature into your upper back. This can cause shoulder and upper back pain, but also chest tightness, shortness of breath, and in extreme cases, kyphosis (the medical term for having a hunchback).

Door stretch

This is called the door stretch because one of the best places to do it is an open doorway.

• Extend your arm straight out, and place your palm flat against a wall, pole, or edge of a doorframe.
• Keeping your arm extended and your elbow straight, turn your torso slowly away from your arm so that your arm begins to go behind you.
• Continue extending until you feel a solid stretch through your chest.
• Hold for 30 seconds.
• Repeat on the other side.

Chest opener

You can do this on top of any firm object that’s more narrow than your shoulder blades. A foam roller or the top of a couch work well, just make sure whatever you pick is sturdy enough that you’re not going tip it over.

• Find your object and lay so that the long part of the object is along your spine.
• Extend your arms straight out and let them sag downwards.
• Exhale into the stretch, allowing your arms to droop further and your chest to open.
• Hold for 60 seconds, continuing to exhale into the stretch.

Cobra Pose

One of the best ways to neutralize stooped shoulders and a hunched back is to force the opposite curve into your upper back. This adapted yoga pose is a great way to do that.

• Lay flat on the the floor, face down, legs together.
• Place your hands flat on the ground as close to your body as possible. Your thumbs should be right next to your armpits
• Extend your arms as far as is comfortable.
• Look up and curve your spine.
• Hold for 60 seconds, continuing to deepen the curve of your spine if possible.

The Hips and Lower Back

Sitting all day with excess curvature in your upper back causes your lower back to compensate with excess curvature and severe muscular tightness. This can cause pain all in and around your lower back, butt, sides, and what you would actually think of as your hips. It’s also giving you a gut.

Thread the needle

This is another adapted yoga pose that’s great for stretching your glutes (butt) and lower back.

• Lay flat on your back
• Pull your knees to your chest
• Cross your left foot across your body, so that your ankle is resting on top for your right thigh
• Wrap your arms around your right leg. Your left arm should be through the hole between your legs.
• Let your left knee rise and push out while you pull in with your arms.
• Hold for 30 seconds, and then switch legs and repeat.

Couch stretch

This is probably my favorite stretch in the entire world. It’s an excellent hip opener that will loosen up all of the glued together tissue in the front of your hips.

• Take a knee on the ground in front of your couch, left knee on the ground.
• Take your left leg and place your foot on top of the couch, so that your shin is close to the front of the couch.
• Make sure to keep your abs and butt tight. Don’t allow your lower back to curve and take up the slack.
• Flex your thigh and bring your upper body as vertical as possible. Take it slow, though — if you haven’t done this before, it might be a pretty rough experience.
• Hold for 30 seconds, then switch legs and repeat.

If you’re too tight to get in this position comfortably, you can do a deep lunge on the ground as a less-intense version of the stretch

Sitting side bend

When you have tightness in your hips, it can help to create some slack on the sides of the body as well.

• Sit in a chair or cross legged on the floor.
• Extend your left arm directly above your head
• Lean over to the right as far as possible without lifting your hips off the ground
• Exhale into the stretch and allow it to deepen
• Hold for 30 seconds, continuing to exhale into the stretch.
• Switch sides and repeat.

So if you’re hurting, give these a shot — and next time, remember that you need maintenance. Don’t just come back to these exercises when you’re hurting; do them before it gets bad. If you do every single one of these, then combined they only take about 10 minutes. Not a bad return on investment.

When it comes to health and fitness advice, it’s a lot easier to read it than it is to put it in practice. That’s why I wrote a little booklet to help you get to the gym and follow through on your goals:

If this helped you, do me a favor and hit the 💚 below so it can help other people too.