Musculoskeletal disorders, diseases of the respiratory tract or mental illnesses – these are all possible consequences of permanent stress at the workplace. Ergonomically designed workplaces can nip these complaints. This How-To explains how to align your desk according to the principles of ergonomics and what you need to keep in mind.
Ergonomy
Since ergonomics is aimed at preventing illnesses and symptoms, it also counts as preventive occupational health and safety. To ensure this, employers are legally obliged to provide their employees with a workplace that complies with the guiding principles of ergonomics.
How to set up your office workplace ergonomically
An office workplace is often only associated with the desk and the right office chair. However, these two components are just two parts of a broader concept of the ergonomic workplace: by definition, this also includes the office, the computer and the associated peripherals. Only when all components are in harmony is a workplace ergonomic by definition.

Office chair and desk
In order to sit properly, your arms should be able to lay horizontally on the desktop. It is important that your shoulders must be able to hang loosely. Otherwise, either the desk is too low or the chair is too high. When buying a desk, make sure that the tabletop is height-adjustable. It is also advisable to have the option of working at the desk while standing. Important is that you stand up regularly to prevent fatigue, tension or lack of concentration.It is important to cater to individual needs. You will find a large selection of different office chairs in the reichelt-Onlineshop. The optimum seat height is between 42 cm and 53 cm, the seat width between 40 cm and 48 cm. When adjusting the height, make sure that your legs are bent slightly more than 90 degrees and that your feet are completely on the floor. You should also be able to stretch out your legs without getting tangled in cables. There should be about ten centimetres of space between your thighs and the desktop, and the distance from the front edge of the seat to the back of your knee should be about two centimetres wide. Adjust your desk and chair to your individual needs so that you can maintain these distances.
If your chair has an armrest, it should be adjusted so that it is an extension of the desktop – in other words, it should be at the same height. This allows your arms to rest comfortably on the top and backrest without developing tension in your neck and shoulders. The backrest is correctly adjusted if it gives you the necessary support for an upright sitting posture. At the same time, you should be able to lean back without exerting too much force. You can also choose a height-adjustable stool.
Computer
If people also like to use a laptop in the home office, you should be able to access an additional screen as well as peripherals such as a mouse and keyboard. After all, laptops are standardised according to their models and not necessarily adapted to your individual needs for an ergonomic workplace. Docking stations can therefore often be used. The additional monitor should be aligned so that it is straight in front of you.The upper edge of the monitor must not exceed your eye level. Otherwise you will fall into an unnatural harmful posture. In the reichelt online shop you will find a large selection of furniture for your ergonomic workplace. Make sure that there is a distance of one arm’s length between your eyes and your screen. If you have difficulties reading the documents on screen, do not reduce the distance. Instead of this, increase the font size.
The mouse and keyboard should also be placed straight in front of you at a distance of 10 to 15 cm from the edge of the table. This way you can place your hand in front of it without strain and work with your peripherals without any problems.
Make sure that the documents are in line between your keyboard and the monitor: this way they are in a comfortable distance. It is also easier for you to maintain your natural posture.
Office
However, an ergonomically designed workplace can only help to prevent work-related illnesses if your office and its surroundings are also ergonomically designed. For this reason, you should, if possible, also take some precautions for your office space – whether home office or not – that can have a positive effect on your health.
The space around your desk
If you are sitting at your desk, you should at least have enough space around you to be able to turn and move freely in your chair without bumping into anything. The same applies should be given if you stand up or roll back with the chair. Therefore should be at least ten square meters of space per computer workstation. However, this space must not be misused as a storage room at the same time. Put up plants instead. Large-leaved plants in particular can actively contribute to improving the indoor climate.
The optimal room climate
The room climate is made up of humidity and room temperature. The perfect humidity is between 40 and 60 percent. Below that it is considered too dry. This can have a direct impact on your respiratory tract: air that is too dry can lead to a dry cough and dry out the mucous membranes. In addition, allergies are triggered more easily. Air that is too humid can cause mold in the office – especially if the air in the room is warmer than the outside temperature. The warm, humid air settles on the cold outer walls, especially in the evening and at night, condenses and creates mold, which can also lead to respiratory diseases.
Plants can help to keep the indoor climate in an ideal state. You can also rely on air humidifiers or dehumidifiers that enrich the room air with moisture or filter it out. In addition, forced ventilation not only helps the exchange of air, but also regulates the humidity at the same time. But especially in summer, make sure that you don’t air them out too long during the day. It is precisely the warm and mostly humid summer air that accelerates any mold problems. A hygrometer, for example, can help here, showing you exactly how high the current humidity is.
The optimal room temperature is individual. A temperature of 20 degrees Celsius is often mentioned at this point. However, this usually only refers to the comfortable temperature of men – the comfortable temperature of women is at least two degrees higher. In addition, studies show that higher temperatures not only reduce the individual error rate of employees, but also that this results in better communication between you and your colleagues. The work is not only done more effectively, the working atmosphere also increases noticeably at higher temperatures.
Noise level
Too high a noise level can quickly have a negative impact on concentration. You should therefore make sure that it does not exceed 55 dB. Plants with pronounced leaf growth can help here: They serve as biological noise protection. The leaves can absorb the noise and actively reduce your stress level. This also has a positive impact on your productivity.
Another way to reduce some of the noise around you is to use acoustic partitions. Therefore you have a choice of free-standing room dividers and fixed dividers at your desk.
Purposeful office lighting
It is well known that sunlight enhances our sense of well-being. For this reason, every workplace should have a daylight supply. When setting up your desk, just make sure that it is not in front of your window so no shadows fall on the keyboard when you are typing.
A poorly lit office also has a direct impact on your ability to concentrate and your perceived state of alertness because your body automatically thinks it is time to sleep. For this reason, you should also use wall spots rather than desk lamps. Wall spotlights illuminate the entire room, whereas a desk lamp only directly illuminates the workstation. We have summarised how to illuminate your office as efficiently as possible in this guide.
It should also be noted that eyesight decreases with age. The lenses become increasingly cloudy from the age of 50 onwards. This means that light is scattered more poorly and visual clarity decreases. For this reason, older people generally have a darker perception of the space around them. You should also pay attention to this when illuminating your office, if it is necessary.

Improve your own well-being – take active steps against complaints
Even if you follow all our tips when setting up your workplace ergonomically, you should by no means neglect your own well-being. Getting up regularly during work already helps to improve concentration. In addition, you should do relaxation exercises for your body from time to time. These short workouts do not take too long and do not require a lot of effort. Nevertheless, they help you to prevent complaints and illnesses and to maintain your working capacity.
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