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Why every reading position eventually becomes painful

Ellsworth Toohey
Jan 20, 2026
∙ Paid

GaudiLab/shutterstock.com

If you’ve ever tried to read for more than an hour without shifting, stretching, or abandoning the couch for the floor, you’ve discovered an uncomfortable truth: the human body wasn’t designed for sustained reading. Slate digs into why every reading position eventually becomes painful, with input from Cleveland Clinic and Mount …

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