Ergonomic work station

Step 2 Take frequent breaks

You were not designed to type all day long. You need to take breaks.

I use Workrave to help remind me to pause. It has multiple timers that are only active when you are mousing and typing and can be set to actually prevent you from overusing your computer, if you desire.

I have a micro-pause of 45 seconds for every 3 minutes of typing/mousing, and a 10 minute rest-break for every 30 minutes when I stretch, walk around, and do non-computer-related work. This may seem maddening, but it works for me. The frequent micro-pauses are not even lost time; while pausing, I think about the next thing I am going to write or do and can do it quickly and directly when the pause is over. They also come with plenty of warning, so I can scroll to the next page of a document and continue reading with my hands at rest.

Although it may seem like you are pulse-width modulating your work with breaks, I have found my productivity equal or better than before I took breaks. With your computer telling you to take breaks, you can get angry at it and not at your hands when they force you to stop.

Now that I work primarily on a Mac, I've been using AntiRSI. It doesn't have the same level of control as Workrave (30 second micro pauses are the max!), but accomplishes nearly the same goal.