Every day, millions of workers around the globe reluctantly wake up to their alarm clocks, hit snooze repeatedly, and sleepily head into work where they effectively sit motionless for 8 hours. Sure, everyone has to earn a living, but the monotony of the ole’ 9-5, coupled with the stress and horrible lifestyle habits that tend to accompany an office job can literally take years off of your life.
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Recently, Business Insider took a look at 24 ways the standard office job is detrimental to worker health. While some examples are a bit of a stretch, there are still more than a few worth highlighting. As anyone who has ever worked in an office setting can attest, it’s difficult to keep good health habits up for a wide variety of reasons. Here are a few.
Sitting all day isn’t a smart move
Relaxing comfortably on your couch is one thing, but slouching over in an office chair while glaring at a computer screen all day is completely different. As BI notes, sitting for such long periods of time can have significant and adverse effects, resulting in higher risks of “muscular skeletal disorders, obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and more.”
Related to that, and perhaps more noticeable, is that sitting all day can really impact one’s posture negatively, contributing towards arthritis and various back issues in the process.
Fast Food lunches are enticing, but dangerous
When you’re spending all day cooped up inside of an office, sometimes all you want to do is get outside for a short while and enjoy a tasty and equally unhealthy lunch. This, perhaps more than anything, is the most dangerous aspect, health-wise, associated with working an office job.
The number one cause of death in the U.S. is heart disease. And yet, droves of office workers, every gladly gobble up cheesy, meaty, and fried concoctions every single day. From Taco Bell and McDonalds to Chipotle and Panda Express, there are no shortage of alluring fast food options that will have your heart begging for mercy.
Sadly, most office workers now that fast food is far from an ideal lunch-time meal, but when time is of the essence and workers only have a short lunch break, sometimes fast food is all that office workers truly have time for.
Staring at a computer all day isn’t good for your eyes
In today’s advanced technological age, most office workers who remain sedentary while on the job tend to spend their time staring at a computer screen. While this may not pose any long term risks to one’s vision, there are some short term risks to be aware of. Some people, for instance, tend to suffer headaches.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg
From carpal tunnel and a lack of sleep, to the germ-infested environments that we otherwise refer to as “offices,” make sure to head on over to BI for the full scoop on how your standard office job isn’t doing your body any favors.
