If you’re seated all day, it’s easy to feel lethargic, uncomfortable, and desperate for a refreshing walk during your lunch hour. It’s true to say that a nice balance of both is best, but sometimes, our working arrangements rarely permit that.

If you usually come into work, sit down, and do so for eight or ten hours a day, then it’s easy to feel like the cobwebs have grown over you before the day is done. So, how might we undo the damage of sitting in such a scenario? In this post, we’ll discuss that and more:

Stand Up & Walk

Sitting all day can make you feel pretty sluggish, especially if you’ve missed the commute and just gone straight from your bed to your desk. It’s smart to get up and moving around when you can, especially before you have to log on and clock in. Maybe take a quick stroll around the home every hour or so or walk your dog in the morning.

Some people like to stand up and pace when they’re on the phone. Others might walk to a colleague’s desk instead of sending an email, sometimes it’s nicer to just talk than consume even more screentime. It doesn’t have to be a big deal – just a few minutes can help as well. Getting up and having a drink by the water cooler isn’t really seen as “bunking off” either, so you don’t have to explain it. Even just standing and stretching for a minute can make a difference, especially at lunchtime.

Use Ergonomic Equipment

Having the right setup can make a big difference when you’re sitting all day. Many people use the examples of chairs, and yes, those are great if they have lumber support of course. Some people swear by those funny-looking ergonomic keyboards too, especially if they have mobility issues in their hands or arthritis.

But ergonomics actually offer much more than just sitting and typing. For example, ergonomic loupes can be used to gain a better view if you work in the medical field or in a technical profession where you need to see closer but without constant bending – think about how a watch repairman needs to look closely at the mechanics of a dial while seated, but shouldn’t have to crane down to do it. Good investment now can save health issues later, or just make your job so much easier to enjoy.

Improve Air Quality & Ventilation

We don’t have to convince you that stuffy and trapped air can instantly make you feel worse – sitting in a hot car that had its windows closed for hours is enough to convince anyone of that. Improving air quality and ventilation in an office space, no matter if it’s at home or in the official workplace, is so important.

A fan can help, but negative ionizers and air conditioning can also work wonders. Going out for fresh air is the ultimate because no amount of investment or technical gadgets beats feeling the wind on your face and getting fresh air straight from the source. You may be surprised just how well this works in the long term, especially if you need to beat that post-lunch slump most of us go through.

Try To Avoid Slouching Over Your Desk

It’s easy to end up hunched over your desk without realizing it. Many of us have a habit of doing so to read content more closely or to make sure we haven’t set an embarrassing typo into that department-wide email.

Try to catch yourself if you’re slouching and gently correct the behavior if you can, without disparaging yourself. Sitting up straighter can help your back and make you feel more alert and over time you’ll adhere to the new practice.  If you don’t have an expensive ergonomic chair, a lumbar pillow can help, as can a foot rest that presses us back into the chair and inspires us to keep our back straighter than it was. Also, if you’re continually leaning forward to read your screen, it’s fine to just increase the scaling of the UI.

With this advice, you’re more likely to undo the damage of sitting at work, and hopefully benefit somewhat as a result.

The post Undoing The Damage Of Sitting At Work: A Guide appeared first on InstantELLA.

If you wish to get a new piercing soon, here are some tips for the best results and aftercare.

Speak to the jewelers about aftercare

Before you book your appointment, you must be clued up on the aftercare of piercings. Different piercings require different aftercare. 

For instance, you might be looking to get a daith piercing. If so, you should find out more information on the daith piercing to ensure you know what to expect and how to take care of it once it is finished. Taking good care of your piercing will guarantee maximum safety and health. Piercings can be vulnerable to infections if they are not looked after properly. Therefore, read up on piercing and aftercare tips to guarantee safety after you have a new piercing. 

Keep your hands and the area clean

After you have gotten your piercing, it is essential to keep your hands and the area clean. When you go to any of the top Nose Piercing Places in NYC (or indeed elsewhere), there’s a good reason why they’ll wear gloves and wash their hands throughout the day when they have them off. Keeping everything sterile is key, especially after the job is done! It is good to wash the area with mild, soapy water to remove any germs. 

Be sure not to touch your piercing with dirty hands, as this can increase the risk of infection. 

Clean the area once a day

Speaking of cleaning the area, be sure to keep this up once a day if possible. 

Even if you keep the area covered or clean, you never know what dirt and bacteria can touch the area. If it isn’t cleaned frequently, it can become infected. Piercing infections are nasty and can be easily prevented by cleaning the area once a day. 

Take inspiration with you to the appointment

If you want the best piercing results, to make it look aesthetic and to your standard, it is advised to take inspiration with you to your appointment. If the jeweler goes off of your word only, it might not be the piercing you envisioned. 

When you take a picture, the piecer can get a better understanding and visual of what you want and how you want it to look.

Avoid sleeping on the area

Another smart aftercare tip for piercings is to avoid sleeping on the area. Whether you get a new ear piercing or your nose pierced, it is advised not to lean on the area, as this can hurt and also cause bruising. 

You will allow the piercing to heal quicker if you allow it to breathe, which means avoiding sleeping on it. 

It is advised to pursue these tips to guarantee the best results for your piercing and ensure it does not become infected. Be sure to take inspiration to the jewelers and keep it clean for a few weeks after. 

The post Tips For Piercing Aftercare (& To Get The Best Results) appeared first on InstantELLA.

Not necessarily! Humidity is way more important than you think, and every household should have some sort of humidity reader. It will basically tell you how much moisture is in the air – a higher humidity reading means the air is full of moisture while a lower one tells you that it’s relatively dry. 

Why does this matter? Because the humidity levels impact the air around you, which can have a profound effect on your home and the people in it. This will make more sense if we look at the problems caused by high or low humidity in the house. 

The Problems With Low Humidity Levels

Get a humidity reader and check what it says. Ideally, you should look for readings between 40-60%. That’s the humidity sweet spot, but if you’re seeing a percentage of 30 or below, then the indoor humidity is far too low. 

As a result, the air is excessively dry, which can lead to a host of health issues: 

• Dry skin
• Dry and inflamed nasal passages
• An increased risk of catching colds or other viruses

Not only that, but low humidity levels can cause damage to indoor plants by drying up their soil. It may also shrink timber and other wooden structures on your property because wood needs some moisture to keep it healthy. 

Therefore, you need to boost your humidity levels back up – a humidifier is the easiest way to do this. Or, you can simply run the shower and leave the bathroom door open, allowing steam to moisturize the air. 

The Problems With High Humidity Levels

Low humidity is bad, but high humidity can be just as problematic – if not worse. This is when the levels consistently sit above 60%. Sometimes this isn’t always bad, but if your home is always at 60% or 70% humidity, then there is far too much moisture in the air. 

Compared to low humidity levels and dry air, extra moist air causes a different set of issues. These aren’t health-based but have more to do with your property. Excess moisture will create dampness and generate the best conditions for mold growth. That’s why areas like your kitchen or bathroom often have mold growing – they’re the most humid parts of your house. If you can’t tell if that black spot on the ceiling is mold or not, then you could always contact someone like this company offering mold testing in Baltimore, MD to come out and give you a definitive answer so that you can then take the next steps, if necessary.

Mold is a big problem as it can lead to respiratory problems – but it also damages your home. You’ll need a mold remediation company to come in and remove the affected areas then prevent further growth. It can be a costly and invasive process, so you need to focus on stopping mold growth in the beginning. 

As such, you must lower the humidity to a more reasonable level. This can be done by opening windows or getting a dehumidifier – which does the opposite of a humidifier and removes moisture from the air. 

On that note, this should explain why humidity is such a crucial part of your home. If it gets too low, you can damage parts of the property and cause health issues. When it gets too high, there’s a massive risk of mold and damp growth. So, always focus on maintaining an indoor humidity of between 40-60%. It’s not as difficult as it sounds – open/close windows, use humidifiers/dehumidifiers and you will be fine. 

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