Study area, the ergonomics of chair and desk for students health and performance.

A student that is aiming for competence or excellence needs to consider their environment, to shape the space as much as possible into a comfortable place to study. The ergonomics of a study desk and office chair are well known, they are entirely different to the ergonomics of a lounge for socialising or resting, or a bed for sleeping.

A student studying in a well designed study area, with desk and chair will suffer less injuries. They are more likely to avoid such injuries as back strain, eye strain, carpal tunnel syndrome, neck pain and arm pain. They’ll be better able to utilise ruler and pencil to draw accurate graphs. Like a draftsperson or architect has a particular type of desk and space to work at high quality in reasonable comfort, so too a student has particular needs.

Just as a carpenter needs their work bench at a particular height to make the clamps and hammering aligned, vices for sawing to ensure straight lines, with tools arrayed in a particular way for proficient work, so too does a student. Just as a kitchen needs its cutting board at a particular height for ease of cutting or the sink at a comfortable height for washing dishes, so too does a student need their body in a comfortable position to study.

Consider that thousands of hours of studying typically go into earning a degree or completing the final years of high school. Repetitive strain injury comes from repeatedly doing something in a particular way that causes pain and unnecessary suffering.

Study is physically so very much harder than many people give credit for. A well thought out environment can facilitate a students’ motivation to study.

Would you want to sit for 1000’s of hours in an uncomfortable position, and have to place full attention on learning something challenging, whilst feeling the torture of an uncomfortable position? Overcoming hardship is character building, certainly, but unnecessary discomfort repeated thousands of times reduces performance.

Ergonomics is a branch of applied science that deals primarily with designing and arranging things that people use regularly, the purpose is to ensure that humans interact with objects, tools and work or live in spaces in the most efficient, safe and healthy way possible.

If your child/student has a good study area, desk, chair they are more likely to be able to study effectively. If their study area is not set up for study, it is set up for failure.