Health: Health Hazards That IT Professionals face Daily…
Few people truly take the time to watch over their health. Most spend more time analyzing baseball stats and the problems with their cars than their own health issues. The result is that many people then rely on their doctors for that aspect of their lives and in a rational, more functional planet than that of Earth, this is the way it should be. Unfortunately, for us who dwell here on this “rock”, the sad story is that much of medicine, especially in the United States, has been converted into a revenue producing business which promotes the “bottom line” to the top priority in such an environment and far above that of an individual health.
The result is that many Americans, and many more should, have already taken the pro-active stance of doing their own research and turning to what we like to call “Alternative Treatment”; those that rely on natural supplements and herbal remedies instead of traditional prescription drugs.
Years ago Americans could rely on the FDA to do a somewhat reliable job of regulating the pharmaceutical industry in order to keep harmful drugs out of the public domain. However, this is no longer true since the ideology of free-markets has consumed the attention of politicians since the Reagan years. Unfortunately, such an ideology, which is quite good for the private sector, as long as companies are kept to much smaller sizes than they have been allowed to grow to, it has done very little to promote rational government which has an overriding concern for the public interest.
In fact, you will find no evidence to date that can dispute the statements just made as the corroborative documentation is now overwhelming. The same trend is also occurring in the United Kingdom and has been ongoing for years. It is now making its face shown in France. However, its lifespan is somewhat questionable as the French are impassioned about their society as it has been and as they should be. France, for instance, has one of the finest educational systems in Continental Europe. Why should it change simply for the rational of free-enterprise. It’s not as if it is going to get better than “the best”…
In the article that follows, Beth Stackpole, makes some very good points about the ailments that can afflict software engineers. However, I would be very wary of running off to your doctor in an attempt to rectify existing conditions with the use of prescription drugs.
Harvard researchers have found that in the past 20 years there has not been a single significant drug attributed to true health care that has been introduced into the American environment. Instead we get designer drugs to cure ailments instead of disease.
For example, one of the the most popular distributed prescription drugs today are those that promise re-invigorated sexual health for men… These drugs, like so many others have serious and very harmful side-effects that can raise long-term, deleterious health issues that avoiding and having a less active sex life now may prevent harm later in life.
“Erectile Dysfunction”, the symptom that such drugs are designed to treat is not a health problem as it is so often inferred. It is a natural symptom of aging that any respectable medical journal will inform you of the same. This “symptom” of aging is a direct result of the lessening levels of testosterone in our bodies as men age. The result, is that to truly eliminate this symptom you must first find a safe aging-inhibitor for the Earth bound Human male. Using Viagra and other such drugs will do nothing for your long term health.
Prostate Cancer is another health concern that much of the pharmaceutical industry is promoting for the sale of such drugs as “Flomax” which claims to reduce the size of a male prostate which tends to increase in size with aging and again, the lowering of testosterone in our bodies. The size of one’s prostate is not necessarily an indication that you may have prostate cancer but it is cause for concern.
The prescription drugs that you may take for this ailment should also be cause for concern as they have been found to actually be a potential cause for promoting prostate cancer instead of reducing it.
Mammography for women, long held to be the premier methodology for finding cancerous growths in women’s breasts, is now being found to actually be a possible factor in the creation of such growths.
I mean, think about it, blasting a lady’s breast with radiation, one of the most harmful substances the Human body can be exposed to on Earth, no matter the dosage, just to get a picture has to make one take some pause. What do you think could happen? What, radiation is safe?
The point I am trying to make is that there are still many doctors in the United States and elsewhere that are working daily with the best interests of their patients in mind. However, the tools they are being given to combat disease and other related issues have been substantially reduced in quality over the years.
It would be good then to begin a reconstruction of any health regimen in the same fashion that Europeans and the Chinese have long done so, by researching the many natural products that are available to support quality health and without the side-effects. And this also includes natural products to help with that most sought after of pastimes, sex…
If you have questions or concerns, of course seek advice from your doctor but do your homework. There are plenty of reputable sites that provide a tremendous amount of documentation on an entire range of health issues including well-known medical journals. You will be much healthier for it…
Health hazards for IT workers — how that desk job wears your body down
Too much junk food, too little exercise and a 24/7 tether to technology? Your body ain’t happy, friend. Let us count the pains.
Beth Stackpole
October 1, 2008
(Computerworld) Let’s say you’re a young IT manager, in your 20s, 30s or even early 40s. It’s not unheard of for you to put in 10-hour workdays in front of your computer, or some other user’s.
You try to eat something at least halfway healthy when you make it to the company cafeteria, but most days, you’re crashing by 4 p.m., which means a trip to ye olde vending machine for a Jolt or a Snickers (or both). By 6 p.m., you’re sprawled out all over your desk, ergonomics be damned, still typing furiously (and simultaneously) on your laptop and BlackBerry, wondering if you’ll ever get out the door.
Weekends mean family obligations, household chores and a few hours stolen here and there to catch up on key projects from work. There’s no time or energy for exercise more rigorous than mowing the lawn or riding bikes with the kids.
In your heart of hearts, you know the long days, heavy workload, poor eating, lack of exercise and cruddy posture add up to a pretty stressful work environment — and that’s before factoring in your boss’s notoriously short temper. But hey, you’re young, you can handle it, right?
Wrong.
Fat, sore and stressed
Keep it up another 10 years, and you could be looking at a host of ailments, from nagging aches and pains on up through serious, life-threatening conditions, according to a host of medical experts we spoke with.
(To see just how much damage the IT lifestyle can inflict, check out our head-to-toe chart).
The combination of a sedentary workday and poor eating habits can lead first and foremost to obesity, which can put your heart at risk and lead to a litany of other diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, in 2005-2006 the prevalence of obesity among adult men was 33.3% and 35.3% among adult women.
Obesity, in turn, increases the risk for conditions like hypertension (high blood pressure), Type 2 diabetes, stroke, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, respiratory problems, certain cancers and cardiovascular disease.
“A phenomenal amount of people die [every year] from cardiovascular disease, which is very preventable,” says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., and a staff nutritionist at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a Washington-based nonprofit organization. Desk-bound workers are particularly at risk, she says. “If you have risk factors — you’re male, you’re a person of increasing age, you lead a sedentary lifestyle and you’re overweight — you need to take control.”
Your sedentary, stress-filled job wreaks havoc inside and out.
Click to view the pain points up close and personal.
The office life is also hard on your muscles and skeleton, thanks to the prolonged computer use that’s so common among IT workers. When the body is still, circulation slows, reducing the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles. This scenario, coupled with poor posture, can produce a number of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which manifest with pain, tingling, discomfort, numbness and swelling in the joints and muscles. Most are temporary, but others can be permanent.
Finally, work-related stress, while motivating in manageable doses, can grind down your health over time. Undue stress can lower your immune defenses, increase the risk of heart disease and bring on anxiety, depression and difficulty sleeping, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Scared yet? For more details, here’s a head-to-toe look at the health dangers lurking for the typical IT desk jockey.
The good news is there is no evidence that staring at a computer screen degrades your vision permanently. But short-term symptoms are common.
According to the American Optometric Association, people who use computers daily at work or at home could suffer from computer vision syndrome, which leaves them vulnerable to problems like dry eye, eyestrain, neck and backaches, light sensitivity and fatigue. Many of these symptoms result from poor workstation configuration and improper work habits, the AOA says.
The AOA’s 2007 American Eye-Q survey reveals that 41% of Americans experienced eye strain after prolonged computer or handheld device use, while 45% cited neck or back pain. While many of these symptoms cease once the sufferer is off the computer, some people will continue to experience visual problems, such as blurred distance vision.
Altering viewing distance, changing the screen setup, ensuring proper lighting and monitoring the ergonomics of the desk environment can help. But taking frequent eye breaks is just as important. The AOA suggests practicing the “20/20″ rule — look away from the computer every 20 minutes for 20 seconds to minimize eye-focusing problems and irritation caused by infrequent blinking.
During times of stress, the brain releases adrenaline and other hormones to heighten senses and boost strength. While experts consider the normal stress response healthy, chronic stress can harm the immune and cardiovascular systems, and increase vulnerability to heart disease, depression, exhaustion, sleep deprivation and overall malaise, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Undue stress can also trigger anxiety, which can cause its own set of physical and emotional symptoms, including abdominal pain, dizziness, muscle tension and headaches, decreased concentration, irritability and sexual problems. In an extreme form, anxiety can even increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, MSDs, psychological disorders, even suicide and some cancers, according to the International Labour Office’s Encyclopaedia of Occupational Safety and Health (subscription required).
High levels of stress and anxiety can also provoke more minor conditions, such as hives, contact dermatitis, heart palpitations and headaches. It can also lead to mindless overeating, which, in turn, can lead to weight gain and its related medical risks.
“What leads to all this disease is trying to function at [a high] level, 24/7,” says Howard Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the cardiac catheterization lab at the North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Mass., and co-director of the center’s Heart Center. “When your BlackBerry is buzzing and you have constant e-mail, it’s a sickness.”
Much progress has been made in the past decade in addressing carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive stress injuries through the use of ergonomic keyboards and computer stands. But less focus has been given to correcting how people sit in front of their screens all day, according to Brian McKeon, M.D., chief medical officer for the Boston Celtics and an orthopedist at the Boston Sports & Shoulder Center. Poor posture, coupled with the natural process of losing bone density and flexibility as we age, sets up a perfect storm for a host of back, neck and shoulders problems, such as rotator cuff disease, McKeon says.
Turn yourself around
These small adjustments to your workday can add up to a happier, healthier you.
And the increasing popularity of portable computers only compounds the problem, because “the design of laptops violates a basic ergonomic requirement for a computer, namely that the keyboard and screen [be] separated,” according to the Cornell University Ergonomics Web, which recommends a host of posture-positive tips for laptop users.
Poor posture can lead as well to digestive problems such as indigestion and constipation, McKeon explains, as well as pulmonary disease as lungs become restricted, making it harder to breath. “Bad posture is something we don’t take seriously — most people don’t see surgeons for these problems, and we just tend to neglect it,” McKeon says. “If we treated posture aggressively from the outset, shoulder, elbow and hand injuries would dramatically decrease.”
More than 1 million people lose time from work each year due to musculoskeletal disorders, which can be easily avoided with proper attention to workplace ergonomics and with regular exercise that includes back-strengthening routines, according to “Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Workplace,” a report published by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
There’s been a decrease in the past five years in carpal tunnel syndrome, but there are still plenty of other prevalent repetitive stress ailments afflicting the hands, arms and elbows as a result of prolonged computer use.
Hand and wrist tendonitis, tenosynovitis (also known as DeQuervain’s tendonitis) and ulnar nerve entrapment are just some conditions that could be in store for you if you spend too much time at the keyboard without a proper eye to ergonomics.
The text messaging and other handheld-based activities that IT professionals hold so dear make them more vulnerable to developing symptoms ranging from hand throbbing and swelling to tendonitis, according to the American Physical Therapy Association‘s Occupational Health Special Interest Group. When text messaging, people tend to tense their shoulders and upper arms, which cuts down circulation to the forearm at the time when the consistent movements of the thumb and fingers require increased blood flow, the APTA says. Also, because so many PDA users are middle-aged businesspeople, overuse can inflame underlying arthritis, further increasing the risk of injury.
There’s a quality-of-work component to extremity injuries as well, according to the musculoskeletal report from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine. “High job demands and high job stress are work-related psychosocial factors that are associated with the occurrence of upper extremity disorders,” the report notes. In other words, somewhere down the line, you’re potentially going to feel that stressful job in your hands, wrists, elbows, arms or shoulders.
To cut short that damage before it happens, check out recommendations for a more ergonomic workstation setup from the Occupational Health & Safety Administration.
Nearly one in three adult males in the U.S. has some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the single leading cause of death of American men, according to the American Heart Association.
Statistics published on the AHA site show that the lifetime risk of developing cardiovascular heart disease after age 40 is 49% in men and 32% in women. Besides heart attack, CVD can lead to other cardiac-related events such as angina, stroke, high blood pressure and peripheral vascular disease.
While some of the risk factors that contribute to that risk for cardiovascular disease — such as age, sex and genetics — are beyond an individual’s control, behaviors like smoking, exercise and diet have a significant impact on increasing or decreasing a person’s risk profile.
The first step in the battle is to know your risk factors, says the North Shore Medical Center’s Dr. Waldman. “People, by age 40 or so, should know what their lipid profile is,” he says. “Awareness sometimes ignites change, and people may start to make better choices.”
According to a May 2008 CareerBuilder.com survey of approximately 7,700 employees, 34% of respondents who identified themselves as IT workers said they had gained more than 10 pounds in their current job, and 17% had packed on more than 20 pounds. While IT workers’ weight gain was less than those in financial services and government, it was still above the average, for all workers who took the online survey, where 26% said they had gained 10 pounds and 12% had gained 20 or more.
The same survey showed that a mere 9% of all workers head out to the gym during lunch breaks to work off those calorie-laden restaurant lunches (38% eat out twice or more per week) or frequent snacks (66% of those surveyed snacked once a day, with nearly 25% indulging twice a day or more).
Weight gain, particularly when around the middle, where it tends to collect in middle age, has been directly linked to metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that increase propensity for heart diseases and diabetes, among other problems. Diabetes, in turn, opens the door to a host of other issues, including blindness, sores that don’t heal and more serious maladies. Type 2 diabetes occurs most frequently in people who are 45 or older and overweight, according to the American Heart Association.
Have your say
Share the pain — has your job taken a toll on your health?
Another unpleasant side effect of obesity, especially as it relates to diabetes and metabolic syndrome, is testosterone deficiency, which can lead to erectile dysfunction and lowered libido, according to reports from endocrinologists.
Just as cardiovascular disease, brought on by poor diet and insufficient exercise, can affect the arteries around the heart, so too can it affect blood flow to extremities such as the legs. Office workers with a poor diet and insufficient exercise can over time develop peripheral vascular disease, a serious condition that affects some 8 million Americans and can lead to a heart attack, stroke or diabetes.
For healthy adults aged 18-65, about 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity five days of the week can protect your heart and consequently help stave off lower-extremity diseases, according to the latest guidelines (PDF) issued jointly by the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine.
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Age, gender and genetics are outside your control, but lifestyle and eating habits are well within your purview to change. With a few well-chosen modifications, which don’t even need to be extreme, you can alter your health profile.
Physicians like Waldman say it’s imperative for IT workers and other deskbound professionals to take the time to pay at least some attention to diet and exercise and their physical workstation setup in the office.
Making small changes — cutting back on red meat, reducing portion size or taking regular, 10-minute exercise and stretching breaks — can be just as effective over time as radical changes like taking up running or abruptly switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet. The trick, the experts say, is to make changes that will stick. (See “Five easy changes for better health now” for suggestions.)
Mentally, you need to find a way to respect your body’s limitations as well as its strengths. “If you’re asking a lot from your mind and body, you must be prepared to properly nourish it too,” notes Robin Foroutan, a nutritionist and holistic health counselor certified by the Institute for Integrated Nutrition in New York. “That means downtime, exercise, stress release, quality time with friends and loved ones, adequate sleep and healthy foods.”
Beth Stackpole, a frequent Computerworld contributor, has reported on business and technology for more than 20 years.
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- October 4, 2008 / 6:44 pm
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