Researchers from Britain have identified the most common health problems among modern office workers. To do this, they interviewed more than 3 thousand people. Based on the data obtained, the researchers created a model of a woman from 2040 who worked in an office for 20 years and got every possible disease there. Her name is Emma, and she looks like this:
She has a permanently arched back, a swollen face, lots of nose and ear hair, eczema from stress, and pale skin. All these and other hardships arose from her ordinary office conditions.
What can harm your health in the office?
There are obvious and long-known sources of health problems for workers in offices:
- uncomfortable places
- musty air,
- lack of space,
- stress.
Many employers protect the health of their employees from these dangers in one way or another. Chairs with lumbar support, air purifiers and healthy food vending machines are slowly becoming the norm.
But there are other, less obvious sources of illness in offices. Health problems can start from the basics - from the chair and table. Even the most advanced chairs will not help if the employee does not monitor his posture. By bending over the table, we incorrectly distribute the load on the cervical vertebrae, which causes poor posture and can subsequently lead to problems with the intervertebral discs.
You should also be careful when sitting with your legs crossed - constant pressure can cause varicose veins, which can result in swelling and even thrombosis.
Anyone who works a lot with computers may be at risk of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is caused by nerve compression from stress on the hand. If you experience numbness in your hand, tingling, or pain in your wrist after work, the most likely cause is nerve compression.
However, it is not difficult to avoid these problems: it is enough to periodically work while standing, indulge in walks and walk more often. And if you feel constant muscle numbness, then don’t hesitate to go for a massage.
Even lamps can harm the health of employees. Artificial light that is too bright or too dim can cause fatigue, headaches and mood swings.
It is also worth paying attention to the distance from the monitor to the eye - most experts recommend maintaining a distance of 30-40 centimeters. It also doesn’t hurt to adjust the brightness of the monitors—simple programs like f.lux can help you find a backlight level and color scheme that is comfortable for each employee.
And, of course, don’t forget about basic “eye gymnastics.” Most office workers only look at close-up objects—screens and documents. The eyes need to periodically “distract” from this and look into the distance. On the Internet you can find many proven methods of such gymnastics.
A caring manager should pay attention to the cleanliness of their desks, especially if men sit at them. American scientists have proven that on average men's desks have 10-20% more bacteria than women's desks. In addition to insinuating lectures on the importance of hygiene, special cleaning products will help repel the invasion of microorganisms.
And, of course, it is always important to listen to your colleagues. After all, some of them may suffer from real allergies to work. About 10% of asthma cases in the United States are associated with office environments. Workplaces hide dozens of possible allergens: paints, adhesives, chemicals. However, all asthma symptoms may disappear during a vacation or even on a weekend. If an employee literally cannot breathe from work, it’s time to take action.
I worked from home for quite a long time, but with the launch of the 365 detox project, it became necessary to be in the office 5 days a week. It turned out that the office mode has many advantages - you get more done, there is a clear division of work and personal time, and you have real weekends. True, there is no blender or stove in the office, and a 10-minute yoga break in the middle of the working day is not always appropriate. These simple steps help me stay energized in the office every day and get the most out of my workday.
Author: Olya Malysheva
1. Buckwheat with you
Taking a bottle of smoothie and a container of homemade buckwheat, millet, quinoa or beans to work is always easier for me than finding a decent lunch near the office. Delicious-looking vegetarian side dishes often contain too much cheap refined oil, and vegetable salad portions in cafes and restaurants can be tasty, but too small for those like me who eat a salad bowl of vegetables at a time. It’s not every day that I have time to prepare something to take with me to work, but I always notice that I feel much better after eating from a container than after having lunch at a cafe nearby.
☆ To avoid using the microwave, I cook my buckwheat or millet in the morning while I’m getting ready or doing exercises (if you soak dry cereal overnight in drinking water, it will cook much faster in the morning). I mix the hot cereal with spices, oil and put it in a container. Before lunch at the office, the buckwheat has time to cool down, but does not become as cold and unattractive as if I cooked it the evening before and put it in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Don't start the day without charging
Exercise is just a few minutes that change your mood and add vigor for the whole day. My complete routine is Sun Salutations, 21 repetitions of the Eye of Rebirth exercises, five minutes of trampolining, stretching, shoulder or headstand, and Savasana. I don’t have enough time for a full complex every morning, so I do at least a shortened program - 11-15 repetitions of the “Eye of Revival”, 3 minutes on the trampoline, stretching and 60 seconds of Shavasana. The shortened version takes no more than 15 minutes, but manages to add tone to all muscles and clarity to the head.
☆ I move those tasks that sometimes compete with exercise in time to the evening - in the evening I prepare clothes, wash and cut the ingredients for the morning green juice. And if in the morning you have the choice of having breakfast or doing exercises, exercise always wins, because you can have breakfast in the office, but you won’t be able to stand on the mat there.
3. Get up every 30 minutes
The fact that we sit at the computer for a long time every day does not add any benefit to our body. The consequences of long periods of continuous sitting include blood stagnation, cellulite, headaches, heart problems, back pain and other troubles. At the same time, it doesn’t matter how often you run in the morning or go to yoga. To get away from your chair and screen more often, there are special programs, such as Dejal Time Out and EyeLeo, that will remind you to take a break every 20, 30 or 40 minutes.
☆ During the day, I periodically work standing, placing my laptop on a windowsill or a couple of boxes. You can also stretch your legs by walking to the water cooler, jogging to the distant trash can, and walking to your colleague in the next office to discuss some work issues out loud, rather than exchanging messages with him while sitting over the wall.
4. A breath of air
No air conditioner can compare with the air outside. Even in the center of Moscow, the air outside the room will be healthier than the air inside an apartment or office. Instead of distracting my colleagues with an urgent phone conversation with my mother or business conversations, I go outside to talk on the phone. When it’s warm, you can combine an important telephone conversation with sunbathing and a dose of vitamin D. When it’s cold, put on a coat and breathe in the freshness.
☆ Not everyone has an office on the ground floor with its own exit to the street, but during lunch break everyone can afford to go out into the air for at least 10 minutes. If you work from home, all phone calls can be made from your balcony.
5. Prepare the soil
To avoid feeling overwhelmed by unhealthy office snacks like cookies and chocolates, you need to be prepared with a supply of healthier alternatives - bring nut bars, home-baked oatmeal cookies, or just a bag of almonds and dates. Leave delicious tea, whole grain bread and a jar of your favorite honey at work. For salads and side dishes brought from home, we also have a bottle of cold-pressed olive and flaxseed oil and a jar of Himalayan salt in our office. If you are the only one on a “healthy wave” in your office, don’t wait for others to catch up, but create comfortable conditions for yourself.
6. Mindfulness instead of coffee
Coffee is not the worst of evils, but its invigorating effect is often followed by irritability and anxiety, and regular consumption of coffee acidifies our body, impairs the absorption of essential minerals, can negatively affect the functioning of the adrenal glands and contribute to the depletion of our nerve cells. Green tea contains theine, which activates physical and mental activity, increases performance, but is generally milder than the caffeine in coffee. Another invigorating alternative to coffee can be drinks with natural cocoa, chicory, Japanese matcha tea and freshly squeezed vegetable juices, which add not only energy, but also a portion of vitamins, minerals and beneficial enzymes.
☆ For many, a cup of coffee works like an ambulance after a sleepless night or an overly rich lunch. Although coffee helps restore vigor, it does not help to understand the cause. Why didn't you sleep well last night? Where did your energy go after breakfast? Which ingredient does your body digest poorly? Or was the lunch portion too large? The more attention we generally pay to our lifestyle, our regimen and nutrition, the less often the need for stimulants appears.
7. Work is just work
No matter how important what I do is important to me, I try not to exaggerate the significance of what is happening. Work is an exciting part of my life, where I can benefit other people and realize my talents. Taking your favorite projects too seriously does not always have a positive effect on the results, but it always adds stress and obsession with perfectionism. The absence of mistakes is only possible when we do nothing and lie on the couch. If we take on something new, we bear responsibility, mistakes will definitely happen. The task is not to perceive every mistake as mourning, but to draw conclusions and move on. Appreciate what happens in life outside of work. Instead of stress, add more joy to your interactions with colleagues. When you leave the office, be able to switch your mind from work matters and truly relax on the weekend so that you can start work with pleasure on Monday.
* Column for Yoga Journal
Movement is joyBeauty and healthOlya MalyshevaUseful tips
What's wrong with open space
Working in an office can also jeopardize the psychological well-being of employees. The order of work, the opportunity to take a break, the decoration of workplaces and many other details determine our mood and performance.
Many office workers experience sleep disorders, such as difficulty falling asleep, light sleep, and waking up at night. In Russia alone, 32% of working people admitted that they do not get enough sleep due to overwork and related stress. The quality of sleep is also negatively affected by a lack of melatonin caused by constant interaction with monitors.
Sleep-deprived employees come to work where they are faced with new sources of stress.
Working in open offices can be especially stressful. Open space without partitions helps employees get closer and facilitates communication, but at the same time it can also interfere with work. In such offices, many employees especially often complain about the inability to concentrate and lack of personal space.
Scientists have already confirmed the validity of their complaints. For the experiment, they invited two groups of subjects: the first worked in silence, the second in a room where a recording of noise from the office was played. All participants were given an impossible math problem. Those who worked in silence did not give up for a long time and looked for a solution. Their “colleagues” from the noisy space gave up after a couple of attempts. After studying the test results, psychologists came to the conclusion that noise not only distracts, but also reduces motivation.
Hot desking—frequent job changes—can also cause problems. People find it much easier to concentrate when they work in one stable space. Employees who are constantly on the move may become more distracted and irritable.
When faced with stress, many people seek salvation in food. In combination with a sedentary lifestyle, abuse of this type of sedative is fraught with the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes and, as a result, cardiovascular diseases.
Sitting in one place
Everyone already knows about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, but not everyone knows what exactly it is.
Sitting in one place for long periods of time slowly and surely deteriorates our health. The minimal problems you may encounter are discomfort in the neck and lower back. Prolonged sitting increases the risk of developing musculoskeletal and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer.
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And even if you regularly play sports outside of work and lead a healthy lifestyle, you still remain at risk.
An ideal and very simple lunch in an office where there is no cafeteria.
It’s good if the enterprise has a canteen, but in other cases this issue has to be resolved somehow. I found simple and healthy recipes for you that I tested myself. All you need is simple food, a microwave and the simplest utensils: plates or a pot. Maximum 15 minutes and lunch will be ready.
What the doctor ordered
As bigmir.net writes, sandwiches, chips, salty crackers, cookies and other snacks have a deplorable effect on the condition of our stomachs.
“Dry snacks cause a lot of problems,” says nutritionist Natalya Samoilenko. – Firstly, they lead to dehydration of the body, which causes a decrease in performance, lethargy and fatigue. Secondly, fast food and all kinds of pies contain a large amount of fat. Constant consumption of such high-calorie foods leads to obesity and problems with the gastrointestinal tract. And the filling in pies, as you yourself could observe, is very far from the concept of natural.
Corn sticks, cereal, rolls and cookies, according to the nutritionist, are also not the best foods for lunch. They contain large amounts of sugar, margarine and flour. High sugar levels cause fluctuations in blood glucose levels, leading to sudden changes in mood. Therefore, the doctor advises taking healthy food with you from home or preparing it right in the office.
Cooking in the office with lady.mail.ru
Top eight lunches
Curd lunch
Ingredients: 125 g of cottage cheese, 1 banana, 3-4 tablespoons of corn flakes.
Preparation. Cut the banana into cubes and place in a deep plate along with the cottage cheese and cereal. Add sugar to taste, stir. The banana can be replaced or supplemented with any fruit, and you can also add any fruit sauce.
Arugula, mint and pear salad
Ingredients: 1 bunch of arugula, 1 bunch of mint, 50 g walnuts, 1 pear, 50 g Dor Blue cheese, 1 tablespoon honey, half a lemon.
Preparation. Coarsely chop the arugula and mint. Cut the pear in half, core, and cut into cubes. Lightly heat the honey in the microwave (until it becomes liquid), chop the nuts, and crumble the Dor Blue cheese with your hands. Mix everything, sprinkle with lemon juice.
Salad with couscous and red pepper
Ingredients (for 2 servings): 1 cup couscous, 1 red pepper, a small bunch of green onions and parsley, a couple of mint leaves, 1/2 tablespoon wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, salt and pepper to taste.
Preparation. Pour boiling water over the couscous (according to the instructions on the package). Remove seeds from red pepper and cut into cubes. Finely chop the onion and parsley. Mix the cereal with pepper, salt and pepper, add wine vinegar and olive oil. Garnish with mint.
Vegetables in a clay pot
Ingredients : 200 g of any vegetables (carrots, cabbage, broccoli, corn, peas, zucchini, etc.), 50 g of cheese, 1 tablespoon of sour cream.
Cooking . Chop all the vegetables and put them in a pot. Sprinkle grated cheese on top and put sour cream or mayonnaise. Cook for 5-15 minutes at 600-700W depending on the vegetables. You can sprinkle herbs on top. Food cooked in a pot has a special aroma.
Pasta casserole
Ingredients: 150 g of pre-boiled pasta (bring from home), 100 g of cheese (hard and soft), 1 egg, 50 ml of milk or cream, salt, butter.
Preparation. Grate all the cheeses and mix with pasta. Grease a microwave-safe container with oil (ideally, sprinkle with breadcrumbs or flour), and lay out the mixture. Beat the egg with salt and milk. Pour over pasta. Place in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 700W.
Zucchini rolls
Ingredients: 200 g zucchini, 100 g pate.
Preparation. Peel the zucchini, cut into slices 0.5-0.7 cm thick, bake in the microwave for 10-15 minutes at 600-700W. Spread with pate, roll into rolls and secure with toothpicks.
Salad "Vitamin"
Ingredients : 1 carrot, 1 apple, 1 handful of lingonberries, 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Preparation. Grate or finely chop the carrots, do the same with the apple. Add lingonberries, stir, pour olive oil. If desired, you can sprinkle with cinnamon.
Stuffed pita bread
Ingredients: 150 g chicken breast (pre-boiled), 50 g cheese, herbs, sour cream to taste.
Preparation. Cut the chicken into thin strips, grate the cheese, chop the herbs. Mix everything, place in the center of the pita bread, add sour cream, and wrap. Place in the microwave for 2-3 minutes at 600W.
