Office professionals take 850,930 sick days a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While some of those days might be mental-health days or plain old playing hooky, some illnesses plague the office worker. Here are a few of the diseases you might be at risk for and how to avoid them.
THE PROBLEM Adult Onset Asthma The culprit: Office printers, which emit fine particles into the air. A recent Australian study found that office printers can damage the lungs in the same way cigarettes do. Study author Lidia Morawska found that almost a third of printers emit dangerous levels of particles. Symptoms: Coughing while exercising, shortness of breath, wheezing when you breathe, and tightness in the chest Protect yourself: Increase the ventilation in your office to allow airborne particles to disperse, and make sure your desk is far enough away from the printer that you can’t hear the machine running. A study from Columbia University found that taking low-dose aspirin can reduce the risk of asthma.
THE PROBLEM Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) The culprit: Prolonged sitting. A New Zealand study found that DVT occurs in 34 percent of desk workers
and in 21 percent of those who travel by plane. Symptoms: Only about half of people affected have any symptoms, which include swelling and soreness in the legs along a vein. DVT happens when blood clots form in the legs, which can be deadly if a clot breaks off and moves to the lungs, blocking blood flow and causing a pulmonary embolism. Protect yourself: If you know you will be sitting for extended periods of time, make sure you stay hydrated, and every couple of hours, get up and walk around to stretch your legs.
THE PROBLEM Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) The culprit: Poor posture when sitting at the computer, according to a study in the
Indian Journal of Medical Sciences Symptoms: Pain involving the nerves, tendons, muscles, and supporting structures of the body. In the United States, MSD accounts for almost a third of missed workdays. Protect yourself: Position your keyboard above your thighs, and place your monitor at eye level with the screen 15 to 25 inches from your eyes. Sit with your feet flat on the floor, your knees directly over your feet, your lower back arched in, and your upper back naturally rounded, and type with your elbows at your sides and bent at 90-degree angles.
