Random Reasons Why Your Office Job Quietly Hates You — And Is Killing You Slowly (15 items)

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  (#4) It's Possible The Air You're Breathing In Your Office Is 100x Worse Than The Air Outdoors

  Sick building syndrome is a phrase used to describe general symptoms related to any illness people generally experience in a building despite no specific known cause: headache, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, etc. It was initially thought these symptoms were directly related to people's lack of desire to be at work, that they were, in essence, psychosomatic. However, people are beginning to question that way of thinking as they come to realize that, for generations, building development has put very little research into ventilation.

  Technical University of Denmark researcher, Jan Sundell, told Newsweek, “Outdoor air is a political hot topic. You get sick due to indoor air. You die due to indoor air.” The problem is clear: people aren't focused on indoor air pollutants. Reportedly, 100 times more money is spent on research for outdoor air pollution than indoor, but there are not only the same pollutants affecting office workers, there are more. Particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other gases are all regularly found in higher concentrations in office buildings.
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  (#10) Team-Building Activities Can Cause Depression And Anxiety

  Does anyone not hate team building exercises? CEOs don't, but that's about it. Liz Ryan wrote on Forbes,

  Team-building exercises are pointless and even insulting to your team members, because they suggest that if only your team members spent more time doing silly things and solving group problems together, climbing trees and rolling around on the floor, they would work more effectively together the rest of the time.

  Even worse, though, are the psychological effects of team building, which are reportedly all too real. Team building exercises potentially do more harm than good, despite the corporate obsession with them. If you're not convinced, consider the experience of SAS Member Gordon28:

  I feel like a child getting told they were rubbish at everything and something deep triggered in me and I spent the whole evening in a catatonic state or screaming into my pillow. I felt like my stupidity had been revealed, my lack of social ability revealed, and several insecurities opened up and analyzed all at once.
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  (#3) The Computer Screen You're Staring At All Day Long Is Melting Your Eyes

  While prolonged staring into computer screens doesn't literally melt your eyes, it still causes a fair amount of damage, so much so that it has a name: Computer Vision Syndrome (or Digital Eye Strain). According to the American Optometric Association, "The most common symptoms associated with Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) or Digital Eye Strain are eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision, dry eyes, and neck and shoulder pain." The center offers a solution: the "20-20-20 rule; take a 20-second break to view something 20 feet away every 20 minutes."

  While the solution is relatively simple, it's one of those things that is easier said than done, especially because there's potential for trouble if your boss walks by and catches you staring off into space on "the doctor's orders."
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  (#14) Your Third Shift Is Particularly Unhealthy

  Although this is a notorious problem in myriad non-office jobs such as nursing, truck driving, fire fighting, and film production, many office jobs also require shifts of staff to be present on job sites 24 hours a day. If you're a staff on one of those swing shifts, you could be in trouble. Third-shift workers have a higher risk of contracting Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. What's more, these people are likely waking up later in the day by necessity, and a 2009 Harvard study found such individuals show lower levels of leptin, the hormone that curbs your appetite, and an increase in cortisol, the stress hormone. 
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  (#1) Sitting All Day Can Shave Years Off Your Life

  "Sitting Disease" isn't recognized as an actual disease, but it's a term coined by the medical community as it presents a clear and present danger to society, especially Americans. The average American sits 13 hours a day, most of that at work, and with that comes serious health risks, as Business Insider reports: 

  • People who sit for more than 11 hours a day have a 40% increased risk of death in the next three years, compared with people who sit for four hours or less.
  • Workers who have held sedentary roles for more than 10 years have twice the risk of colon cancer.
  • The longer people sit, the shorter their lifespan, even if they exercise regularly.
  • Sitting for long periods may also affect the development of musculoskeletal disorders.

  Even if you're engaging in your recommended 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise every day, you're still at risk. A simple but potentially life-saving solution is a standing desk, which reportedly burns about eight calories per hour. Even with a standing desk, you should probably still take that lunchtime walk around the block.
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  (#6) The Temperature Of Your Office Is Only Comfortable — And Productive — If You're A Man In The 1960s

  If you're a 40-year-old, 154-pound man, you probably think the temperature in your office, which is somewhere around 72 degrees, is just perfect. If you're anyone else, you might not be overly comfortable. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) determined optimal office temperatures for the average worker in the 1960s, an era in which few-to-no women could be found in the workplace and men were wearing wool suits. The problem is, workplace temps might still be in that ballpark because OSHA hasn't changed their regulations since. 

  Boris Kingma, a researcher in human biology at Maastricht, conducted a study to put OSHA regulations to the test, and he found ideal temperature varies drastically based on a variety of factors, especially gender, with as much as a five-degree Fahrenheit discrepancy. The study recommends changing the formula not only for the comfort of a wider representation of the office workforce, but also for energy and cost efficiency. “If you have a more accurate view of the thermal demand of the people inside, then you can design the building so that you are wasting a lot less energy, and that means the carbon dioxide emission is less," said Kingma.The temperature of your office ties into how productive and effective you are.

  ...Women were significantly more productive when their office was kept at a warmer temperature. At 77° F (25° C), the women were typing 100% of the time with a 10% error rate. But, when the temperature dipped to a cool 68° F (20° C), typing rates plummeted and error rates rose to 25%.

  Additionally, According to the Association for Physiological Science. As the group points out, "Studies going back to the 1940s have shown that the temperature can shape emotions and perception."

   

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