Problems with the heart, vision and digestion are still in bloom. Now we know several terrible diseases that develop from office work.
Working in the office is considered calm and completely safe compared to many other activities, but long hours at the computer can be harmful to your health. The list of the most common ailments of office workers includes diseases of the cardiovascular, digestive and musculoskeletal systems, organs of vision and respiration, but timely prevention can help to avoid them. Better to prevent than to cure; the old rule remains valid for any “office” disease from our collection.
If you work at a computer for a long time, and your fingers become numb or have poor movement, this may be a sign of tunnel syndrome – a thickening of the median nerve or its entrapment by thickened tendons, also called tunnel syndrome. The tunnel syndrome is expressed in aching pain or lumbago in the wrist and sooner or later begins to interfere with work.
It is possible to prevent the development of the disease with the help of regular warm-up of the hands and wrists, as well as the correct position of the body during work: a straight back and elbows lying on the table. Ordinary wrist pain can lead to advanced tunnel syndrome and arm stiffness, so you need to see a neurologist.
Another typical office syndrome is DES, or dry eye syndrome, which affects people who have to spend most of their time in front of a continuously flashing computer screen. The symptoms are familiar to anyone who has sat up for a long time at the computer: burning and tingling in the eyes, sharp sudden pain and a feeling of dryness.
The situation is aggravated by wearing contact lenses, and conditioned air, which is often the case in offices, also does not save the day. For the prevention of DES, doctors recommend taking a break from the computer, taking breaks for eye exercises at least once an hour.
3. Respiratory and viral infections
If in the office, where all employees are sitting together, someone catches a cold, without prevention, the others will soon begin to sneeze and cough. The list of preventive measures includes wearing a gauze bandage, avoiding tactile contact with sick colleagues and strengthening one’s own immunity. Wash your hands often, include vitamin-rich foods in your diet, and tidy up your workplace.
In the face of endless deadlines, force majeure, disrupted daily routine and traffic jams, office workers can become stressed. Stress, which people tend to accept as the norm of life, can not only aggravate existing diseases, but also cause muscle and headaches, and in advanced cases, cause heart attacks, strokes, diabetes mellitus and many other ailments.
The method of prevention is simple, like everything ingenious: a clear daily routine, reasonable scheduling of work tasks, enough sleep, moderate physical activity and 6-8 hours of sleep per day.
Gastritis and other diseases of the digestive system associated with malnutrition are a real scourge of office workers. Stressful situations make you forget about the regime, and instead of a full breakfast, lunch and dinner, the menu includes only smoke breaks and snacks. Fast food, coffee, and sweets are replacing a healthy diet, causing nausea, indigestion, bad breath, bloating, stomach pain, and other unpleasant symptoms.
For the prevention of gastritis and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, a balanced diet, rejection of bad habits and a decrease in the amount of caffeine in the menu are recommended. A timely appeal to a gastroenterologist or nutritionist will help to avoid an increase in symptoms, who will make an accurate diagnosis and help determine the optimal diet.
Obesity is another disease that threatens office workers with poor dietary patterns. By rushing to complete all tasks as soon as possible, employees save time, and often at the expense of lunchtime. The abuse of pizza, hamburgers, soda, rolls and other gastronomic goods that are brought to the office with delivery, predictably leads to an increase in body weight. When combined with a sedentary lifestyle, obesity can lead to shortness of breath, increased fatigue, drowsiness and joint pain.
Overweight can also lead to many other diseases, from cardiovascular and endocrine to cancer, so treatment should be started as early as possible, and prevention should never be forgotten. Nutritionists recommend following a diet high in protein and plant foods, paying attention to physical activity and avoiding stressful situations that can worsen physical condition.
Varicose veins are considered predominantly a female disease, but men who do not carefully monitor the state of blood vessels and lead a sedentary lifestyle are also susceptible to it. It is difficult to diagnose varicose veins in the early stages: it is noticed when spider veins appear on the skin, swelling of the legs, burning sensation and a feeling of bursting pain in the legs.
As a preventive measure, doctors recommend moving more, monitoring your diet and taking time to massage your legs in the evening and exercise in the morning. For any symptoms of varicose veins, an urgent need to consult a doctor to determine the tactics of treatment, depending on the stage of the disease.
Back, neck and shoulder pain, tension in the lower back, headache and dizziness can be signs of osteochondrosis – a disease that occurs due to improper posture and physical inactivity. Violation of blood circulation in the spine can cause partial numbness of the extremities, pain in internal organs and significant discomfort, which is accompanied by rapid fatigue and stress.
For office workers, as a preventive measure, it is recommended not only physical activity and balanced nutrition, but also the arrangement of a comfortable workplace. It is necessary to take care of the consumption of sufficient amount of water, as well as give up bad habits. Work breaks will also help in the prevention of illness – but not for a smoke break, but for a warm-up.
It is not customary to discuss this disease, but it is a shame to treat it, so often the patient comes to the doctor at the stage when only surgical intervention can help him. Meanwhile, the veins in the rectum suffer no less from office hypodynamia than the vessels of the legs, and the stagnation of blood in them is just as dangerous. Given that the list of risk factors includes stressful situations and poor nutrition, often inherent in white collars, the likelihood of getting this unpleasant disease while working in the office is very high.
When a person finds it difficult even to sit, and the inscription “WC” on the door evokes thoughts of another session of torment, he has no time for work. Mistakes and missed deadlines lead to stress, stress aggravates the condition of the veins, and there is only one way out of this vicious circle – to the proctologist’s office. Ideally, for prevention, it is necessary to monitor nutrition, move more, avoid stress and give up bad habits.
Accounting, a bank, an advertising agency, an insurance company – in any office an employee spends 6-8 hours a day at a computer, and this is not only harmful to health, but also dangerous. Physical inactivity is one of the main risk factors for thrombosis. The disease is accompanied by the formation of blood clots, which can break off the walls of veins and arteries, enter the bloodstream and cause a heart attack, stroke, and pulmonary embolism (PE). Risk factors also include being overweight, family history, and bad habits.
Physical activity is necessary primarily for those who lead a sedentary lifestyle, and in order to draw attention to the need to combat hypodynamia, the Russian Cardiological Society and the Association of Phlebologists of Russia urged everyone who cares about their health to join the annual campaign of the International Thrombosis Society and hemostasis # TIME2MOVE (#TimeMove). In the fight against thrombosis, the main weapon is time: if the disease is noticed on time, it will be much easier to cure, therefore prevention is the best way to prevent the formation of blood clots.