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Bharat Savur

Balance heavy wooden furniture with light cane, bamboo and metal pieces — for easy movement. Avoid sharp-edged coffee tables and wardrobes/cabinets with extensively curved legs jutting outward that can gash your thigh or trip you.

What do cuddly toys and solid furniture have in common? They spell security and comfort. As psychiatrist Dr Paul C. Horton, Meriden, Connecticut, says, "They're solacing objects." Sturdy wooden furniture soothes with its solid, dependable, unchanging presence in a changing, unsettling world.

That's why it makes sense to choose furniture that has body-friendly dimensions. Style and elegance can then fall within this broad framework.

In The Book of Stress Survival, Alex Kirsta, the author, urges that we "stress-proof" our surroundings by "adapting them to our body needs." She warns, "Your body adapts very quickly. A badly designed chair, desk, worktop or bed encourages faulty posture and compounds the effects of physical strain and tension. Slouched, stooped postures and rigid movements are common signs of hidden compensatory mechanisms." To avoid adaptive postural stress, she advises: "Test the furniture yourself."

Tips for health and comfort

The work chair that you use for long hours should be spine-friendly. When you sit on it, make sure that your entire back is supported upright, your elbows rest easily on the armrests when the shoulders are relaxed, not stooped or slack. This avoids upper and lower back tension.

Sit for a few moments to make sure you don't slide off it. Now, check that a major portion of your thighs rests along the seat. Some tips: The seat's edge should not cut into your back-thighs. Your feet should rest flat on the floor to avoid knee-strain.

Next, rock in it gently to check its balance. Test-runs: Run a swivel chair around to check that the castors function smoothly. Make sure the seat does not wobble when you increase its height.

Overall, the work chair must keep you on `body-alert'.

Next, rise from it. If you don't struggle, if your movement is fluent and smooth, then it's just right for you.

These rules hold for dining chairs and sofas too. A tip here: Consider detachable, washable fabric covers. Fabrics add warmth and softness. On the other hand, la banquette convertible (couch) can be broad and deep, both to double up as a bed, and enable you to sit Buddha-fashion, legs folded. Place cushions to bolster your back.

The worktable should have rounded edges; its surface, worktop, just below your bent-elbow position for easy keyboard-use or writing, with your shoulders squared and relaxed. Make sure your eyes are level with the computer-monitor.

Handy tip: If you sketch, paint or do craftwork, have an angled 30-degree elevated surface to de-strain neck muscles and prevent spondylitis.

Here is the best way to test the bed and the mattress. Lie down and bounce on it to feel its firmness. While the cotton-stuffed mattress is best for body-alignment, the contemporary coir one is fine, provided you don't sink into it.

Pillow-tips: Check that the pillow is broad enough to hold shoulders and head in supine position. And as thick as the distance between your ear and shoulder-edge when you sleep on your side. This prevents neck stiffness and the frozen shoulder syndrome.

Rehearse swinging out of the bed as you would in the morning. Your feet should neither dangle nor thud on the floor. Remember, the morning body is cold and these micro-traumas could strain muscles and jar joints.

Ideally, stress-proof furniture is personal taste balanced with the practical. A few tips:

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