Get on the Ball!
“A chair is a very difficult thing,” concluded Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the great modernist designer and architect. It needs to be strong enough to support a person’s weight, and it must allow the sitter to assume a comfortable position for his or her chosen task - reading, writing, watching TV. And if you ever intend to move it, it needs to be made of materials light enough to allow that to happen.
Mies wasn’t even thinking of ADHD. In addition to the basic requirements, he didn’t consider the people who want — or need — to combine their sitting with bouncing, spinning, wiggling, or leaning back and forward.
If you, like me, are an ADHDer who has to spend a lot of time at a desk, sitting at a standard-issue office chair can be torture. You may have been the kid in class who endlessly twisted and turned on your chair in math class. Or you may have driven your parents crazy at the dinner table because no matter how much they pleaded with you, you just could not sit still. And now you have a job that requires you to sit at a desk, looking at a screen, for the better part of eight hours a day.
Maybe you need something different to sit on.
The variety of modern workplace chairs available today is fantastic. From the state-of-the-art Aeron chair to the more modest offerings of big-box office supply stores, there are plenty that rise, lower, roll, swivel, and tilt, all the while providing terrific lumbar support, ergonomic armrests, and a choice of colours. My wife has an Aeron in her office, and it’s magnificent. I’m saving up for one.
But for people whose ADHD runs toward physical hyperactivity, even the most forgiving chair can feel confining. And as I wrote in a recent post, being able to move back and forth on a chair can have a calming effect on people with ADHD that improves focus and effectiveness.
Another great modernist designer, Le Corbusier, called a chair “a machine for sitting on”. This machine has a deceptively complex function — to support your weight while you sit, without breaking or falling over. And the number of types of “sitting machines” in the world reflects the vast number of different purposes they serve, from barbers’ chairs to race-car seats to beach loungers. And if one of the functions of the chair is to facilitate focused, deliberate thought by allowing the dissipation of a small amount of kinetic energy, then the exercise ball is the perfect “ADHD office chair.” Like “lefty” scissors for southpaws, it’s a simple machine well-designed for the specific needs of a less conventional user.
I don’t sit on my ball for everything. If I have to do an extended period of reading, I like to use my (tilting, reclining) chair. In meetings with clients, I often revert to a chair because they find my bouncing distracting — though I also have other clients who like to sit on another ball that I keep around for just such a purpose.
Seeing my “guest” ball rolling gently in the corner of my office last week, a new client asked if he could sit on it. That afternoon, we had an exceptional coaching session. As we talked, he bounced gently, rolling the ball steadily back and forth, up and down beneath his feet. Already a very vital and animated person, he was free of the constraints of a conventional chair. He was much more relaxed, focussed, and engaged than I’ve ever seen him.
I’ve been using a ball as a part-time office chair for eight years. Here are a few more things I’ve learned in that time:
- Your posture improves immediately - it’s very difficult to slouch on a ball, though not impossible. For me the result has has been that I sit better everywhere - chairs, benches, even driving a car.
- You have a variety of positions available, depending on how flexible you are. I occasionally kneel on the ball, and sometimes I sit on it cross-legged. Hold on to your desk!
- Your core muscles are strengthened - the act of remaining upright on the ball puts several muscle groups to work without overstraining them.
- It’s great for taking “active” breaks - while just sitting on the ball keeps the core engaged, you can also use it for impromptu exercise sessions. I do ab crunches and lift dumbbells I keep under my desk.
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