Your Desk Job Is Wrecking Your Body—Here’s How to Avoid Looking Like Emma
- jennysmithmattfeldt
- Mar 20
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 21
How to Avoid Stiffness, Eye Damage, & Swelling When You Need to Be at Your Desk
By Jenny Smith Mattfeldt Published March 19, 2025
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Meet Emma—our lovely but slightly terrifying mock-up of what the average person might look like after lifetime at a desk job. She’s a stark reminder of the toll modern work can take on our bodies. And whether you work at a desk or not, it’s hard to ignore how much time we all spend hunched over our screens.
Emma, created by Virgo Health and Fellowes, is a glimpse into the long-term effects of desk jobs, and the results are what nightmares are made of. Designed to grab attention and highlight the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, she does exactly that. A prototype of the average office worker in 2040, Emma was meant to show the physical toll of years spent at a desk: obesity, a permanently hunched back, varicose veins, bloodshot eyes, and swollen limbs. She’s a harsh reminder that our daily habits shape our future—whether we like it or not. So, how do we avoid ending up like Emma? If you spend most of your day at a desk, you can’t just assume this won’t happen to you. Your habits today determine your health, and even how you look, years down the line.
Posture
One of the most damaging long-term effects of working at a desk is the impact on your posture. Even looking at Emma makes me sit up straighter. And it’s not just office jobs—constant phone use has made hunched shoulders and upper back humps increasingly common. You can implement a few habits to make sure you don't end up with that hunch:
Set Up Your Space in an Ergonomic Way
Set up your workspace in a way that supports your body and keeps you comfortable throughout the day. Start by raising your monitor to eye level to prevent neck strain. The screen should be high enough that you’re looking straight ahead, not down. Ideally, it should also be about an arm’s length away to reduce eye fatigue.
Stretching is Nonnegotiable
Imagine your chest muscles tightening and pulling your shoulders forward, creating that dreaded hunched posture. Over time, this imbalance puts extra strain on your upper back, leading to stiffness, discomfort, and pain. To counteract this, make it a habit to stretch and open up your chest throughout the day.
Doorway Lean Pec Stretch: Stand in a doorway with your forearms resting on the doorframe at a 90-degree angle (elbow at shoulder height). Step forward slightly with one foot and gently lean your chest forward until you feel a stretch across your pecs. Hold for 20–30 seconds, then switch sides.
Exaggerated Shoulder Shrug: Lift your shoulders as high as possible toward your ears, squeezing tightly. Hold for a few seconds, then fully relax and drop them down. Repeat a few times to release tension in your neck and shoulders.
Pulsing Scapular Retraction: Start with your elbows pinched in at your sides with your arms bent out at 90 degree angles. Pulse your arms at this angle focusing on drawing your shoulder blades together.
Seated Rotation: Sit up tall in your chair with both feet flat on the floor. Place your right hand on the back of your chair and your left hand on your right thigh. Inhale to lengthen your spine, then exhale as you gently twist your torso to the right, looking over your rifht shoulder. Hold for 15-20 seconds, slowly return to center, and repeat on the left side.Keep your hips squared and avoid twisting from just your neck—let the rotation come from your mid-back.
Your Head is Heavy
Your head weighs about 12 pounds but as you move it forward, out of alignment with your shoulders, the strain increases—adding about 10 extra pounds of pressure for every inch you lean forward. This means to your body you head can feel like 40 pounds instead of 12 which puts an incredible amount of stress on your spine and upper back, this makes it easy to see why your upper back might be killing you at the end of the day.
The key with posture isn’t about being perfect all the time. It’s about awareness. You don’t need to sit up straight 24/7, it's about being able to correct it when you catch yourself slouching. Making that small adjustment consistently is what makes the difference.
Protecting Your Eyes
Ask anyone who’s spent a long day working on a computer, the first thing to go is your eyes. Strain, dryness, and irritation lead to headaches, making it even harder to focus. If you’re going to be staring at a screen for extended periods, taking a few simple steps can help protect your eyes longterm, hopefully making your life a little easier.
1. Follow the 20/20/20 Rule
Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This helps relax your eye muscles, refocus your vision, and reduce strain, dryness, headaches, and fatigue.
2. Use Blue Light Glasses
Screens emit continuous blue light, which is harsh on your eyes and can contribute to strain. Blue light glasses help reduce glare and block blue light, with varying levels of filtering. Generally, the more red or yellow-tinted the lenses, the more effective they are at reducing blue light exposure.
3. Prevent Dry Eyes
Increase humidity in your workspace if possible to keep your eyes from drying out.
If your contacts start to feel uncomfortable, switch to glasses for the day.
Use preservative-free artificial tears to keep your eyes hydrated and refreshed.
Movement
One of the hardest things about a desk job is the lack of movement—the stagnancy. It’s what leaves you feeling stiff and sluggish after a long day. It’s also why Emma is presenting swollen limbs and varicose veins. Movement is essential for circulating lymph fluid throughout the body, and when we don’t move our legs enough that fluid can become stagnant leading to issues like edema.
Just like we discovered when looking at posture the back starts to hurt because the shoulders are hunched forward, which you can counteract it by strengthening your back and core. Weak muscles make it easier to hunch over so by strengthening your back and core you're making it easier to stay upright with good posture.
The ultimate way to combat the effects of sitting is to increase the amount of steps you're getting. There are a few hacks to sneak in more steps:
Park as far away as possible when you get to work or the grocery store.
Get a standing desk with a walking pad.
Insert a ten minute walk into your lunch break.
So while Emma’s situation might be a bit dramatized, it highlights the real impact years of sitting at a desk can have on our bodies. The good news? The fix is simple: more stretching, better posture, protecting your eyes, and getting your steps in.
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