The realities of modern life are such that every year the number of people working in offices increases. Office workers spend most of the day sitting at a desk and a computer. At first glance, such working conditions look quite comfortable. But there is another side to this situation. Sedentary work and a sedentary lifestyle often cause posture disorders, visual impairment, and also develop harmful habits of frequent smoke breaks and excessive coffee consumption in office workers. Plus, all this should be remembered about office dust, the harmful effects of air conditioners, constant contact with a large number of people who are carriers of viruses and bacteria. That is, if you look at work in the office from this side, it becomes clear: it is not so safe. Scientists have compiled a list of the most common office diseases, and also gave white-collar workers recommendations on how to avoid deterioration of health.
Visual impairment
The eyes are the most vulnerable place of most office employees. People who work at the computer all the time, sooner or later begin to notice the consequences of their employment. Nevertheless, by following simple rules, myopia can be avoided.
Despite the fact that “aerobatics” is considered the ability to work with a computer keyboard, looking not at it, but at the monitor, ophthalmologists have a different opinion. Scientists have noticed that those people who, while typing, look not at the monitor, but at the keyboard, put their eyes at less risk. That is, while typing, according to doctors, it is more useful to look at the screen just to check for typos.
Eye problems in office workers often occur due to very dry air and dust, which cause the eyeball to dry out. In recent years, more and more people suffer from the so-called dry eye syndrome. And ophthalmologists call this disease typically office.
How to protect yourself
To prevent the eyes from drying out, it is necessary to take a break from working at the monitor for at least 5-7 minutes every half hour. It is also important to regularly ventilate the office and, if possible, work behind a monitor with good eye protection. It is important for office workers to wash their hands frequently and try not to touch their eyes, so as not to cause irritation and infection.
To prevent office work from causing vision deterioration, it is useful to do eye exercises every 2-3 hours every day. Such training will take no more than 3-5 minutes, but it will help prevent a lot of ophthalmological problems.
The first and simplest, but effective exercise: close your eyes for 5 seconds, repeat 5-7 times.
Second: sit comfortably and rest against the back of a chair, look at the ceiling, relax your eyes, and then blink at a fast pace for 30-60 seconds. Repeat the exercise 2-3 times.
The third exercise: close your eyes and massage your eyelids with circular movements with the pads of your fingers for 30-40 seconds. Repeat at least three times.
The fourth exercise: alternately look at objects near and far for 5 seconds. Repeat 5-7 times. Complete the eye workout with an eyelid massage.
Excess weight
Sedentary lifestyle, snacks “on the run”, as a rule, chips, cookies, sweets and sandwiches, soon make themselves felt by fat deposits. Usually, after six months of eating in this mode, women’s waists become wider, and men have rounded bellies. In addition, many office workers develop a bad habit of constantly chewing something while sitting at the computer. Interestingly, in this case, a person does not even notice how many extra calories he consumes in this way every day. And it also leads to rapid weight gain.
How to protect yourself
To avoid obesity while working in the office, you need to understand that all people need proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals every day. But depending on the lifestyle and activity, the need for these nutrients is different. That is, the daily calorie allowance for an athlete and a person who spends almost the whole day sitting are significantly different, since their energy consumption is radically different. Therefore, it is very important for office workers to avoid so-called empty calories in the form of fast food and junk food. If there is a microwave in the office, you can take pre-prepared food with you, for example, porridge, boiled meat, fish. It is also useful to satisfy hunger with salads, fresh fruits and berries.
It is very important for office workers to exercise regularly. If it is not possible to visit the training hall, then you should at least do exercises in the morning, and during the day as often as possible to load your muscles. For example, if you need to take something from another office, do not ask colleagues to “grab it on the way”, but walk around the office yourself. It is also useful to walk at least part of the road from home to work. This will help compensate for the excess calories gained during the day.
Dyspepsia
Many office workers complain of heaviness in the stomach. This is usually how dyspepsia manifests itself – a digestive disorder, which is also called lazy stomach syndrome. Improper nutrition, snacking on unhealthy food sooner or later cause malfunctions in the digestive tract. Experts have estimated that about one in three office workers faces digestive disorders.
Dyspepsia is often diagnosed in fans of so-called street food, instant coffee from vending machines against the background of the lack of a diet, as well as due to frequent stress. Stagnant phenomena in the digestive tract also occur due to a sedentary lifestyle.
How to protect yourself
The best thing to advise people with lazy stomach syndrome is to adjust their diet, make up their diet from healthy food and move as much as possible.
Chronic stress
At first glance, it may seem that working at a computer in a comfortable chair is practically a rest. In fact, almost all office workers regularly feel the pressure factor (“burning lines”, failed deals, urgent extraordinary tasks, conflicts in the team), which causes constant stress, psychological fatigue, and then professional burnout.
The effects of stress should not be underestimated. Against this background, both mental and physical disorders can develop. Problems with digestion and the work of the cardiovascular system, as well as diabetes often occur against a background of stress. People who are subject to frequent stressful situations often suffer from depression, become unnecessarily “twitchy”, their concentration is disrupted, difficulties arise with decision-making.
How to protect yourself
The best way to protect yourself from chronic stress is to take at least a few days off and change the situation. It doesn’t matter how to spend the holidays – go on a trip to another country or visit your grandmother in the village – the main thing is that a person will spend these days away from the office, colleagues and conversations about work.
If you can’t take a vacation, you should at least change your usual work schedule. First of all, it is important to stop taking work from home, and spend your free time with family, friends or doing your favorite hobby. Yoga or any other sport, visits to a beauty salon, a walk in nature helps to cope with stress. By the way, regular walks in the fresh air help not only to improve the psychological state, but also to strengthen the immune system, increase tone, improve blood circulation.
Diseases of the musculoskeletal system
Every third person working in the office complains of pain in the back, neck, arms or legs, unpleasant sensations in the muscles. The reason for such conditions is low mobility. Office workers, as a rule, spend several hours in the same position in a row. At the same time, the position of the body, most often, is difficult to call correct. As a result, most office workers sooner or later begin to experience back pain, especially in the lower part of the spine.
When a person moves very little, lactic acid accumulates in the muscles. Under normal conditions, the body uses it to release energy. But when there is no physical activity in the proper amount, muscle pain occurs due to excess acid.
In addition, sitting at the computer, many do not monitor their posture, which is why the load on the spine and spinal muscles is distributed incorrectly. As a result, curvature of the spine is possible, stooping appears, osteochondrosis develops with all the consequences that follow from this.
How to protect yourself
The advice in this case is one – to move more and watch your posture. There are also some back exercises that can be performed right at the workplace.
For example, sitting on an office chair (it should rotate), lift your feet off the floor, take your hands on the table and rotate in one direction and the other at least 5 times.
You can also do neck exercises right at your desk. And these are the usual tilts, turns and rotations of the head in different directions. It is useful to repeat each movement 10-15 times.
Regular breaks will help reduce the risk of back pain. Every hour it is useful to get up from the table for at least a few minutes and walk around the office.
Allergy
In recent years, specialists have increasingly resorted to the term “office allergy”. Officially, there is no such disease, but typical conditions in most offices cause employees to have symptoms of an allergic reaction. Heavy, dusty and dry office air often contains substances that cause workers to have a chronic cough and runny nose. The presence of air conditioners, printers and other office equipment in the room increases the risk of toxic substances entering the air, which for many are allergens.
How to protect yourself
All office equipment, furniture and personal belongings of office workers should be regularly wiped with a clean damp cloth. This reduces the amount of dust in the room. In addition, wet cleaning is a good prevention of the accumulation of viruses and bacteria. By the way, researchers advise paying special attention to the keyboard, computer mouse and phone – these items, as a rule, accumulate the most harmful bacteria and viruses. It is extremely important to regularly carry out wet cleaning during the flu and SARS epidemic.
Cardiovascular diseases
This may seem strange to many, but, according to researchers, office workers are one of the main risk groups for developing cardiovascular diseases. Researchers associate such disappointing statistics with low physical activity, poor nutrition, chronic stress and sleep disorders.
How to protect yourself
Usually office workers lead a very sedentary lifestyle. All day – in the office at the computer, and when they come home, such people want to relax: have a delicious dinner, lie comfortably on the bed and watch TV. But this is the worst thing that a typical office worker can offer his cardiovascular system. This lifestyle increases the risk of cardiovascular problems several times. To avoid this, on the contrary, it is important to exercise in your free time, walk in the fresh air for at least an hour before going to bed and eat only healthy foods.
Headache
Headaches occur in almost all office workers. There are many reasons for its occurrence. The most common is eye fatigue caused by prolonged work at the computer. Also, discomfort may occur due to banal fatigue. An equally common cause of pain is muscle spasms in the neck. This happens if a person takes the wrong pose while working. For example, it bends too low over the desk, bends the spine or neck.
How to protect yourself
You can always get rid of a headache with the help of over-the-counter painkillers. But it is important to understand that it is more correct to eliminate not the symptoms of discomfort, but its cause. In the case of an office headache, first you need to learn how to monitor your posture, sit with an even back, control your movements and not stay in a position with a curved spine for a long time. To prevent headaches, it is useful to be outdoors more often and do physical exercises, in particular from the category of developing spine flexibility (for example, yoga) and improving blood circulation (cardio training). If the headache attacks are very severe and are repeated often, it is necessary to undergo a medical examination.
Viral diseases
Viral problems are attributed by specialists to the list of typical office diseases. And if you look at this situation soberly, questions and surprises about this classification immediately disappear. An office is a room in which, as a rule, a lot of people stay every day for a long time. Each of them is a potential vector of infection. Closed office premises are the optimal environment for the reproduction of viruses. By the way, in order to get infected, it is not necessary to sit in the same office with the carrier of the infection. It is often enough to have a short indirect contact with microbes that have “occupied” door handles, office equipment or stationery. To catch the disease, it is enough to touch the infected object with your hand, and then – to the face.
How to protect yourself
The golden rule for all office spaces is regular airing. Even if it’s freezing or raining outside, the windows in the offices still need to be opened. If possible, the room should be ventilated several times a day. At the time of ventilation, it is better for employees to leave the office, and if possible create a draft in it.
Also, in order to protect themselves from infection, it is very important for office workers to maintain their immunity. To do this, it is necessary to follow a healthy diet rich in vitamins, minerals and other components useful for the body. As in the case of most other typical office ailments, it is useful to regularly be outdoors, exercise and do not forget about healthy rest.
For many years, the work of “white collar workers” seemed to many to be ideal, not requiring much physical effort, and therefore useful for health. But the latest observations of scientists have forced the world to reconsider its opinion about security and even more so the benefits of working in the office. Let’s say more, nowadays office workers are often referred to as the most painful group of people in the labor market. However, working in an office is by no means a verdict on health. In order to maintain good health and activity for as long as possible, you just need to monitor your lifestyle and diet.
