This is how you feel comfortable streaming on Twitch and YouTube

As someone with ADHD who is in chronic pain, I find it (understandably) difficult to sit still. In my time streaming D&D, I developed a few techniques to get through three hours without pain or nervousness. Everyone has different needs, to be sure, but I’ve put together a guide that will hopefully be wide enough to help most people figure out how they’re comfortable streaming.

1. Make space for the essentials

Your play area should always have space for character sheets, dice, your secondary devices when using apps, etc. If not, I recommend you get one collapsible music stand with a relatively flat, even surface. I love these, even if I only use one to see whole character sheets at once.

2. Put your feet up or not

The comfortable foot position is the basis for a sustainable, ergonomic sitting position

. Regardless of how you sit, your feet are the basis for the rest of your posture. Make sure they are level, hip-width apart, and ideally far enough away to keep your hips above your knees. Maintaining this relationship between your feet, knees, and hips should help prevent pain for all three.

3. Chair (y) picking

As you can imagine, the posture just described is easier for certain body types and in certain chairs. Gaming chairs and office chairs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but here are some of the staff at Polygon.

I’ll say that as a taller person with hip problems, the bucket seats on g aming chairs tend to be a bit … comfy. If, like me, you get sore hips after sitting for hours, I would recommend a knee chair like this Elegant Alpharetta

. Of all the ones I’ve tried, it’s the only one with an adjustable seat angle. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, no one makes a knee chair with a weight limit over 275 lbs. So, if you’re my tallest and longevity is a concern, this is your place to go Big and tall Section.

4. A real pain in the neck

Text neck, called less judgmental forward head posture is a fairly constant cause of pain for anyone who stares at a book or screen for more than a few hours. I recommend a drastic alternative: Don’t.

Given the general trend away from using external monitors, chances are you may feel a little bit challenged by this one. Hear me out though … while new high-end monitors cost up to $ 600, you can still find some for less than $ 200 pretty high end monitors. If that still breaks the bank, eBay and goodwill both have options of varying quality at all price points. If you want to stream consistently, I highly recommend either a monitor and USB camera or a laptop riser. If money is an absolute no-starter, stacking boxes or books to create an effective – albeit precarious – alternative. Not that you need another reason here, but you’d be surprised at the difference camera placement makes on your appearance.

5. Don’t you want anything

The name of the game is Anticipation, and you are playing against yourself. Water and a snack are a good place to start, but I’m serious when I recommend grabbing All. Nobody wants to burp at the microphone when they know that they are hours away from saving the Pepto Bismol fairy.

For my neurodivergent siblings, this also includes stims. Give yourself the tools to be comfortable and present in these idle moments. Complaints take many forms, and the goal here is to tick it off Maslowe’s hierarchy of needs like it’s a shopping list.

6. Know yourself

Ultimately, we all have our own needs. You know your body and your space and decide how it best suits you. Except maybe the thing with the camera. Nobody needs to see the inside of your nose.