Rush for at-home learning supplies, tips for healthy at-home classrooms

BOSTON — As many students prepare to start the school year online, there’s now a rush to buy at-home learning supplies.

At the Ikea in Stoughton Monday, long lines formed outside the door before the store opened at 11 a.m.

“We pulled up last weekend and we actually drove home, we couldn’t get in,” said Margie Dunlap, a mother from Tyngsborough.

Dunlap told Boston 25 that the parking lot looked more like Disneyland, and that after buying three desks for her three children, she was on the hunt for storage containers, a book shelf and some decorations.

“She wanted some plants for her desk,” Dunlap said, referencing her daughter. “So we’re looking for accessories today.”

While many students work to create at-home classrooms this year due to COVID-19, there are some items that parents should consider investing in, according to health experts.

Dr. Inyoung Yang, a chiropractor at Evolve Chiropractic And Wellness, Inc, recommends students sit on gym balls for better posture.

“When they’re sitting down on the gym ball they can move their spine area a little more easily, so it’s not actually locking posture for one or two hours where they can actually strain their back and neck a lot more,” said Yang.

To prevent slouching, Yang encourages students to prop their computers up so that the monitors remain slightly above eye-level.

“A lot of people put the monitors a little more down, but it’s actually better to put the monitor a little more on top, so whenever they’re working on it, they don’t actually look down with their neck,” Yang said.

After every hour of computer work, Yang added that students should lay down with a pillow underneath their knees and neck, and open their arms out to increase breathing.

Slouching and bad posture is known to lead to neck and back injury.

“That could be creating a lot of disk injuries, clenching their jaw, or that can create some breathing problems because they’re pushing down on lung capacity,” Yang said. “We have to really think about the right posture, maximizing better habits so it’s going to be great for the kids for the future.”

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