Is your work hurting your health?
Remember the first time you were offered a job? How happy you were that day and I am sure you even made a promise to “work hard” in order not to disappoint your employers.
Advertisement
Sadly, sometimes our zeal and passion for our work blinds us so much we end up neglecting our health. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying you should not give your best at work. You must! What you must not do is throw your health to the wind and hope everything will be alright.
There are certain aspects of your job that may affect your work and it is important you take note and take simple steps to prevent those features of your work from harming you.
Do you sit for long hours at your work? Are you stressed? Are you exposed to harmful chemicals or pollution or do you have irregular work hours? These factors among others can be harmful to your health.
A BBC report on January 21, 2014 said that researchers had warned that “Doing the night shift throws the body ‘into chaos’ and could cause long-term damage.”
The report said shift work had been linked to higher rates of type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and cancer.
It said now scientists at the Sleep Research Centre in Surrey had uncovered the disruption shift work causes at the deepest molecular level.
Experts said the scale, speed and severity of damage caused by being awake at night was a surprise.
“The human body has its own natural rhythm or body clock tuned to sleep at night and be active during the day,” it said.
The report noted that it has profound effects on the body, altering everything from hormones and body temperature to athletic ability, mood and brain function.
A cardiologist, Martha Grogan, notes that people who are sedentary at work have a higher risk of heart problems than those in more active jobs.
“It's not clear why, but prolonged sitting may cause a drop in insulin sensitivity and enzymes that normally break down fat,” she says.
The solution lies in standing up and walking around once in a while or working at a standing desk may help.
According to experts, if you spend a lot of your time at work sitting at a desk, make sure you're sitting in the right position in relation to your computer. If you're unsure about correct posture, ask your line manager for a workplace assessment.
If you work on a computer a lot, it's important to take regular breaks. That means for every hour at your keyboard you should rest for at least five to 10 minutes.
Peter L.. Schnall, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Irvine, says bus drivers are more likely to have hypertension than other workers.
It may be because it's a sedentary occupation that requires vigilance to avoid accidents and keep passengers safe, which can stress your system, he says.
If you work for long hours, you are at a risk of hurting your health. There is a relationship between workload and coronary artery disease. It is time to reduce the number of hours you work or take long breaks in between work.
Do you have to lift heavy loads at work? One of the biggest causes of back injury, especially at work, is lifting or handling objects incorrectly.
Learning and following the correct method for lifting and handling objects can help prevent back pain.
The high unemployment rate is making it difficult for most of us to change jobs no matter how bad they are hurting us. But it is important that you do not only think about the rewards of the job or how “passionate” you are about it. Take control of your health because after all you need to be healthy to be productive.
As I have indicated in the past articles - eat right, exercise, get enough sleep and go for regular medical check-ups.
Stay healthy!