1. Improves posture – Do you like sofas that allow you to sink in? These may not be the best types of seating furniture especially if you have back problems. If you don’t have them yet, then rest assured that choosing soft and squishy sofas won’t help your spine. It’s much better to invest in a sofa that is a bit more firm (but not too firm that it causes discomfort when you sit too long) so that it will support you over a range of compression says John Dunnigan, the head of furniture design at the Rhode Island School of Design. Attracted to super-deep sofas that almost feel like a bed? Those may also be problematic as you may have to sit with your legs and feet tucked underneath or be slumped at an extreme angle just so your head and shoulders can reach the backrest. Not being able to sit upright and having to curve your spine over long periods to sit on a very deep sofa can cause back pain, disc degeneration, sciatica, and even spinal arthritis. A lot of European brands feature sofa that are very deep like Edra. Some American brands like RH also offer the same deep sofas but also make them in shallower depths. Make sure to test as many as you can before buying to make sure they’re not only good-looking but also comfortable. Avoid buying sofas sight unseen based on a picture as people are prone to buying furniture that looks good and coordinates nicely with everything else and forget to consider if they’ll be comfortable to use. Remember it’s a big outlay of money and you’ll own it for a very long time so make sure that your sofa won’t only look good in your living room but will also good for your back.
2. Increases productivity – Have you ever purchased a really inexpensive office chair (usually less than $ 100) from a big box store and then wonder why you feel fidgety or even tired after sitting on it for just a couple of hours? Most likely the seat cushion is too firm and the backrest isn’t supportive enough. Or perhaps there is an absence of adjustment features that allow the chair to adapt to your height or unique physical needs. As a result, it’s easier to feel fatigue, soreness, or pain in your neck, shoulders or lower back. What do you think happens to your work? You can probably do less of it because you’re mostly paying attention to various physical ailments without realizing that you’re sitting on a faulty piece of equipment that’s preventing you from just focusing on your job. What does a good chair look like? It should have a mesh seat and back (like Herman Miller’s ‘Aeron’ chair or Humanscale’s ‘Diffrient’) that doesn’t cause fatigue. If you have a job that requires you to spend 8 to 10 hours or more writing contracts at a law firm or creating code at a tech company, sitting is one of the most important things you’ll be doing for most of the day and your chair better be helping you do your job without actually killing you (or at least your back) first. If mesh isn’t your thing then you can try some of the more ergonomically shaped chairs like Steelcase’s Leap or Humanscale’s Freedom chair. Whatever you choose to buy, choose comfort over style (although you can have both). That mid-century plastic (or fiberglass) chair might look good but might not be as good on your back or thighs over the long run. And remember that good office chairs aren’t cheap. However, the investment you put into one will last a lifetime (my adjustable mesh Aeron chair is on its third decade and still performing beautifully) and help you do a lot of focused and productive work.
3. Promotes better rest – Do you like to sit on an easy chair when you get home to watch TV, read a book, or even just close your eyes for a few minutes to enjoy some shut eye before having dinner or engaging with members of your family? What kind of chair do you have? Is it comfortable or hard to sit on? Does it have adequate back, thigh and head support or is it already falling apart, ready to be donated to a thrift store? Being able to transition from work to home is critical. And if your ‘decompression chamber’ isn’t doing a good job helping you get there, then you may end up still worrying about problems at work or feeling anxious about unpaid bills. There’s certainly always time and a place to think about those things such as your home office. But your couch and your easy chair are best used for catching your breath. Remember that you’ve had a full day of work. It’s time to unplug from that if only for 20 or 30 minutes, if not an entire hour. You can deal with whatever is going on in your life after you’ve had a chance to catch your breath. But in that precious 30 – 60 minutes of rest, your body and mind need to recuperate. Otherwise the worry and stress all pile up and your body starts to break down. Make sure you have a place to close your eyes (without necessarily sleeping although you could also do that) just to allow your body to slowly recover. Try the classic Eames lounge chair and ottoman by Herman Miller or the Le Corbusier LC4 Chaise Lounge by Cassina for something more contemporary. Or if you have a more rustic or country cottage look to your space, you can try getting a tropical plantation chair like the one pictured below that is made in India or the Philippines.
4. Provides continuous sleep – Do you have a mattress that allows you to have 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep? It is soft and comfortable or is it hard and lumpy? Does it have a coil-spring mattress or memory foam? Whatever it is that you choose, your mattress has to be the best that you can find for your body since you’ll be spending a third of your life on it. If it causes you to toss and turn or wake up several times you may need to replace it. Nowhere is the saying more true in mattresses than “you get what you pay for”. You may find a mattress in a furniture big box store selling for less than $ 200 but that may not be a good investment. When it comes to this piece of furniture, it always pays to go to a specialist, or a store that sells nothing but mattresses, like Simmon’s Mattress Gallery or Sleep Country. Try several and see which ones you like and narrow down the choice to 2 or 3 to decide which the best option is for you. And then think about your bed frame, do you have one with wooden slats? Do you have a metal frame that has several adjustments? Is it a platform bed made of solid wood? Inquire with the retail store that you’re looking at about the product that they sell and what type of mattress they recommend. Take note that there are several types of mattresses with the three most common being the coil spring variety, the memory foam mattress, and the hybrid version which is a combination of the two. You’ll have to decide for yourself which suits your back the best after trying all three in combination with a particular bed frame. Make sure that your retail or online store will let you try them on and return them if you need to try out a few from home. Although you can get a relatively inexpensive bed frame from Wayfair or Ikea that can last you a lifetime, you need to invest serious money in your mattress. That’s where you can’t afford to scrimp.
5. Makes a longer and more pleasant family interaction – Do you and your family have dinner on a harvest type of table with hard benches? While that looks lovely and is all nice and pleasant for an hour, you might have trouble staying on it for longer than that. I had one of these made recently for my kitchen as it didn’t have a formal dining room area. I put 4 chairs that had foam seats with the two solid wood benches. My wife and I move around whenever we eat to give the seats even wear. We notice that we can sit longer on the chairs that have foam cushions compared to the hard benches which we can only sit on for 30 to 40 minutes before starting to get restless and uncomfortable. In one of our previous homes we decided to invest in these really comfortable Mies Van der Rohe cantilevered leather and steel BRNO chairs. Not only were their design iconic they were the most comfortable chairs you could ever sit on. In fact they were so comfortable that we would have company over for lunch who wouldn’t leave even though it was already 6 hours from when we started eating. They were that comfortable sitting on our dining room chairs. And if you have comfortable seating arounda dinner table, it’s easier for family members sitting to exchange stories, relate events of the day and make plans for the future compared to when they’re sitting on plastic or wooden chairs, which can be hard on your backside after several minutes. If you want friends and family to hang around the dinner table longer, pay close attention to what kind of chairs you have around the dinner table. Next to your mattress, sofa, and easy chair, your dining chairs are probably the most important piece of furniture you’ll want to think about buying.
