Here are some of the top ten IT health concerns:
1: A slug’s life >> When the only body part you move in your job is your mouse finger, you just have to take fitness into your own hands. Do you have to train for a marathon to lose some weight? Not at all, according to Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic. He found that the time spent sitting was more likely to correlate with weight gain than the lack of vigorous exercise. You can keep slim, according to Levine, by walking slowly (about 0.7 mph) two to three hours a day.
2: SIT happens >> Weight gain can creep up on you, but it’s not an emergency in itself. A much more serious hazard of office work is seated immobility thromboembolism (SIT). This problem occurs when blood clots form in the legs (deep vein thrombosis) or lungs (pulmonary embolism) in people who spend a long time sitting.
3: So many headaches >> From the flicker of fluorescent lights to the hunched-up debugging posture, the conditions of your cube farm conspire to cause headaches. Pagers, end users, and the threat of outsourcing provide additional stress to kindle a dandy migraine or tension headache. Downing Tylenol or ibuprofen several times a week can backfire by making your pain more tenacious. If you get in a pattern of frequent headaches, see a doctor to get out of the rut.
4: The bobblehead syndrome >> Do you nod off frequently at your desk and perhaps even have brief dreams? These episodes, called microsleeps, may indicate you’re sleep deprived. It’s natural for the human body to crave a siesta after lunch, but excessive daytime sleepiness needs to be treated. Most adults need seven to eight hours of sleep a night, so simply going to bed earlier may be all you need.
5: Hurting hands >> Although your hands and wrists may be sore from intensive typing, there’s not a whole lot of evidence to link keyboard use to carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). A 2007 study of men who worked at video display terminals found an association of CTS with high body mass index (BMI) and job seniority — but not with specific tasks related to computer usage. Still, many conditions other than CTS can make your hands and wrists hurt, so it’s wise to check with your doctor to try to get some relief.
6: Relax harder >> How is it that sitting on your chair and looking at a monitor can make your back, neck, and shoulder muscles feel like you’ve spent eight hours painting a ceiling? Your tense posture may be part of the problem. Improving the ergonomics of your work area may help take the stress off your upper body. Try not to transfer the tension in your mind to your muscles and take a break now and then to unclench.
7. Noxious invaders >> The dry air of a typical office certainly doesn’t help your immune systems ward off your coworkers’ coughs, but hey, at least you’re not sitting in a daycare center. There are hundreds of cold viruses, plus several influenza viruses each year.
8: Eye strain >> Watching a backlit screen two feet away for four hours at a time isn’t really natural, is it? So it’s no surprise that people in IT complain about irritated eyes and declining visual acuity.
9: Heavy lifting >> If your job requires you to lift, lower, and/or carry equipment around, you might find yourself battling back pain. Maybe you spend your days installing workstations or inserting/removing computers from racks — and if you’re used to the work and know the right way to protect yourself in the process, you might not have any problems at all. But if it’s an occasional task, or if you don’t follow some basic precautions, you could wind up with a painful injury or chronic back trouble.
10: Something in the air >> If you work on a lot of systems, you’re no stranger to dust. Even a well-maintained machine in a clean, ventilated area is going to pull in plenty of it. And if you work on customers’ computers or make a lot of workstation calls, you’re going to feel like Tom Joad before long.
Source: 10 IT health risks — and how to combat them
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