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

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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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  (#2) Boredom Might Actually Be Killing You

  Depending on your job, mistakes at work can be fatal. John Eastwood, a psychologist at York University in Toronto, told The Guardian, boredom "has been associated with increased drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, depression and anxiety, and an increased risk of making mistakes." In the article, an airline pilot discusses a poll of people in his profession, claiming 30% of pilots who woke up from a nap "reported seeing the other pilot asleep too." Despite the existence of autopilot, the idea that both pilots might be asleep at any given time on a flight is terrifying.

  And there are still the other side effects of boredom described, all of which have extremely adverse health effects. You may not be abusing drugs and alcohol at work, but overeating, depression, and anxiety are still prevalent in the workplace, all of which carry significant health concerns. 
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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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  (#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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  (#5) A 10+ Mile Commute Could Cause A Number Of Negative Physical And Psychological Effects

  According to a study conducted in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, "Commuting distance was negatively associated with physical activity and CRF and positively associated with BMI, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure." 10 miles is the magic number, so to speak, but this can vary greatly depending on location — even a five-mile commute in Los Angeles can take an hour, so time spent commuting is a better indicator.

  Psychology Today also warns of "the stress that doesn't pay," noting the adverse effects of a long commute.

  The ride to work is also associated with increased blood pressure, musculoskeletal problems, lower frustration tolerance, and higher levels of anxiety and hostility. It can cause bad moods when arriving at work and coming home, increased lateness and missed work, and worsened cognitive performance.

  The solution to this is to at least consider moving closer to work – or find things to make the commute more zen. Podcasts, audio books, real books for public transit commuters, and meditation apps are all viable distractions that promote health instead of stress.
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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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  (#7) Tight Deadlines Can Adversely Affect Learning And Memory

  Short-term stress lasting as little as a few hours can impair brain-cell communication in areas associated with learning and memory, researchers have found. It has been known that severe stress lasting weeks or months can impair cell communication in the brain's learning and memory region, but this study provides the first evidence that short-term stress has the same effect." 

  At least, according to Science Daily. That's wonderful news if you're "not a school person," since it essentially means school is bad for you. If you're a journalist, however, you're totally screwed. 
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  (#8) Your Mean Boss Is Not Just Killing Your Soul, But Also Your Body

  A Swedish study found a direct correlation between "Managerial leadership and ischaemic heart disease." The lower score a manager received from their employees, the higher their likelihood of heart disease, and that issue compounds over time, meaning if your boss is terrible, you might want to get out of that job sooner rather than later. That's not all: a bad boss could be responsible for depression, sleep issues, high blood pressure, and being overweight.
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  (#9) Windowless Offices Are Terrible In Every Way, Even For Your Quality Of Sleep

  If you're in one of those particularly soul-crushing workplaces that don't have windows, it may be affecting your sleep. According to a study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, employees who aren't exposed to natural light at work sleep an average of 46 minutes less per night, and the sleep they do get is less restful. As weird as it sounds, if your office doesn't have windows, and you find yourself having trouble falling asleep at night, the two things may be related. Not to mention the adverse effects a lack of natural daylight and sunlight can have on a person. SAD — Seasonal Affective Disorder — is a verified diagnosis, perpetuated year-round by clinical or corporate environments.
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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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  (#11) If You're Skipping Breakfast In Your Rush To Work, You Could Pay Dearly For It

  Skipping breakfast puts your body in a stressful state, which in turn causes ongoing adverse effects and disrupts your metabolism. If you're not eating breakfast, you have a higher risk of being overweight and having heart issues and high blood pressure. Business Insider reported on a study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation that "found that middle-aged men who skip breakfast are more likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease." Of course, said group is not the only at-risk community; everyone is adversely effected by skipping breakfast, even kids. 
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  (#12) Working 55 Hours Per Week Will Drastically Increase Your Risk Of Heart Attack

  A study in the European Heart Journal found that your chance of heart attack is 60% higher if you work 11-hour days versus those who just work seven to eight hours. According to one statistic, Americans work more hours than people in a handful of other nations with high GDP and more holiday time — those with full-time jobs actually work an average of 47 hours per week with almost 40% of all workers putting in over 50 hours a week. Japanese corporate culture is notoriously intense as well, and "death by overworking" is the literal translation of a commonly heard career goal.
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  (#13) Shared Keyboards At Work Can Carry A Whole Host Of Diseases

  According to Business Insider, "Microbiologists found that keyboards can even have up to five times as many bacteria as a bathroom, and can include dangerous ones like E. coli and coliforms — both commonly associated with food poisoning — along with staphylococcus, which causes a range of infections." Those are some rough diseases that can cause death in extreme cases. Try to remember to disinfect your keyboard regularly if you work in such an environment.
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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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  (#15) The Printers And Copy Machines In Your Office Could Be Giving You Lung Disease

  If the filter isn't regularly being changed in your office's photocopier (which it likely isn't), the machine might be spewing out potentially deadly ozone, maybe causing chest pain or irritation. Printers might be even worse, as a Time article about an Australian study suggests, it  found that nearly 30% of printers tested "emitted high levels of ultrafine toner particles, which were potentially as hazardous as cigarette smoke." 

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