Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Sit straight or relax?

BBC has a report on how it is not right to sit upright, but rather to sit leaning back at an angle of 135 degrees celcius.
But what this study misses is that most office workers now used laptops, or computer screens which are about 10-15 cms high, ie, the close as high as the chest max. So if you leaning down in the manner suggested, you have to tilt your head at an angle at about 30-45 degrees to look at the screen. The reason for severe back injuries is the position of the screen with respect to the eyes. If the worker has to significantly tilt his neck forward, it results in slip disks - the disks on your spine start jutting out and cause the nasty back-problems. To avoid this, the laptop of the screen should be at the eye level or above.
So indeed, it may be good just to sit leaning back IF you are not working on computers, but, it is certainly more preferable to sit straight otherwise. Best is to adjust the height of your screen.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

English Football Juggernaut coming to naught

Supporting India and England (when they are playing other teams, not each other) is a nerve-wracking affair. I am specifically talking about when these nations are playing their favorite sport - for India, it is cricket (the only sport), and for England, it is football (and followed by rugby and cricket).

Both the teams never make it easy for their supporters. Their approach is never cohesive, assuring, and you never have a guarentee of a flawless performance in big matches. And invariably, it ends with a disappointing loss.

It is really sad especially with the kind of disproportionate attention and money cricket and football get in India and England. I think the best approach for stopping the associated hair loss is not follow the games closely, i.e. not be a devout fan. If the team wins, a bonus. If it loses, who cares!

BTW, I definitely feel England have no chance in winning the World Cup. Nor does the much favored Spain. My money for some reason (gut-feel) is on Argentina.

Lets wait and watch.