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Is office making you sick? Here are the reasons!

There can be countless reasons for falling sick but sometimes even your office makes you ill. Here is how your office can make you ill and how you can fix it.

Mind Body By Meenakshi Chaudhary / Feb 09, 2016

Your office carpets and furniture are full of chemical toxins

Have you heard of perfluorinated chemicals? They are toxic chemicals that are commonly used to repel stains and dirt from the carpets and furniture. When these chemicals are applied to the carpets and furniture, they emit carcinogen formaldehyde as they break down. Formaldehyde gets absorbed in your bloodstream, when you breathe it in, causing asthma attacks and allergic in short terms. Inhalation of formaldehyde for prolonged duration may cause cancer, infertility, thyroid problems and high cholesterol in adults.

Easy spread of sickness

Sounds of coughs and sneezes are common phenomenon in any office, especially, during the changing weathers. Hence, most illnesses in the office are simple cases of cold and flu, as they are easily to spread. According to a study conducted in 2014, there are some viruses that can contaminate several surfaces of a single building just in few hours spreading diseases rapidly. Such surfaces include doorknobs, light switches, tabletops, coffee pot handles, sink tap handles, phone, keyboard and other commonly used equipment.

High carbon dioxide levels in meeting rooms

It is our obligation to spend most of our office hours inside working on something or other, because of which the levels of carbon dioxide levels increases, causing negative impact on the health of the employees. Carbon dioxide , a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas, is produced as the outcome of people breathing, so, we are the primary source of CO2. You will be surprised to know that concentration of carbon dioxide outdoor is around 380 parts per million whereas indoor concentrations may go upto several thousand ppm.

Ways to fix it :Method 1

Wash your hands more than 4x per day in order to cut down the levels of PFC. Dusting your work station on regular basis would also help you reduce the levels of PFCs. Clean your desk once a week with damp cloth.

Method 2

As air outside is much better than what you inhale inside your office. Instead of keep sitting at your desktop, take a 15 minute walk break to get some fresh air. A few minutes of fresh air is enough to normalize carbon dioxide levels in your body. Image source: Getty


