It’s hard to imagine that sitting on your butt at a desk all day could do anything but make you a bit sedentary, but there are actually some serious health ramifications that can come from that cushy desk job.
You may not be standing on concrete floors or inhaling factory fumes all day, but there are several threats to your health in the modern office that can compound into some serious health problems.
Holy Carpal Tunnel
If you type all day, those repetitive motions and constant positioning of your hands are the perfect recipe for carpal tunnel. Once it sets in, it can be difficult to keep symptoms at bay, so nip this one in the bud now.
Start with using an ergonomic keyboard to reduce the strain on your wrists and take frequent breaks from typing. Give your hands and fingers a good stretch every hour or so, and give them a different range of motion to keep your muscles from kinking up.
At a nutritional level, make sure you’re getting plenty of magnesium and calcium. Calcium will help to strengthen your bones as they deteriorate through the natural aging process, and magnesium will help to reduce any inflammation.
Lower Back Pain
While standing on hard floors can definitely cause some lower back pain and sciatic issues, sitting at your desk isn’t much better. All of that sitting creates poor circulation and can even cause compressed discs in your spine.
Too much of anything is a bad thing, sitting or standing, so get a convertible standing desk you can move easily throughout the day. To keep your knees from locking and your feet from hurting, change positions frequently and get an anti-fatigue standing desk mat to keep your feet busy.
Migraines and Eye Strain
Staring at a screen all day is rough on your eyes and brain. If genetic eye issues like macular degeneration run in your family, excessive screen time can exacerbate and accelerate advancement of those issues.
In addition, too much blue light from a computer screen can cause migraines and even interfere with your natural sleep cycles!
Blue light blocking computer glasses are an absolute must if you work on a computer all day and will protect your eyes (and brain) from excessive strain.
Shop Our Blue Light Blocking Glasses
Neck Tension
Neck pain and tension is a major psychosomatic symptom of mental stress. However, it can also have a lot to do with the angle of your monitor when you’re working at a desk all day. Even just a fraction of an inch can mean the difference between barely being able to move and being pain-free.
If your monitor is too high, you may just need to look for a different desk, but monitors that sit too low are an easy enough fix. Just shop around for a monitor riser to give yours a boost (and if they’re adjustable, even better).
High Blood Pressure and Insomnia
Working in an office environment can create enormous amounts of mental stress that manifests itself in physical ways. In addition to neck pain, you could also experience high blood pressure, heart irregularities, and insomnia.
If you can’t change your circumstances, you can at least change how you handle them. Take calming, deep breaths when you feel the pressure starting to build and try to incorporate a few minutes of meditation into your morning routine.
Better yet, disconnect from social media whenever you can, and limit the amount of video games you play after work. Both of these activities have been shown to increase the cortisol levels in the brain — our bodies’ natural “fight or flight” hormone.
Hormonal Imbalances
When we’re inside for long periods of time exposed to only the blue light from our screens and the fluorescent tubes overhead, our bodies get a little out of whack. Sunlight tells our bodies when and how much melatonin to produce and also synthesizes vitamin D for us.
When we don’t get enough, everything gets thrown off, and we’re more prone to problems related to hormonal imbalances.
To combat this issue, the answer is simple — get outside more. Make your breaks walking breaks, and when you’re stuck in front of a desk all day, make sure you’re wearing computer glasses to block the screen’s blue light.
Be the Boss (Even If You’re Not)
Even if you are a desk jockey, that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to a life of high blood pressure and migraines. Be proactive, and understand that air conditioning and a cushioned chair comes with a few tradeoffs. Get up and get moving, don’t become a screen zombie, and get a little fresh air from time to time.
Do you work a desk job? What kinds of health problems have you had to deal with as a result of that?
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