Your Office Can Make You Sick

Plenty of people are sick of their jobs, but is your job actually making you sick?

From germy keyboards to the stress of long hours to personality conflicts, going to work can be minefield of ill health.

Experts said there are easy ways to make the workplace a healthier environment.

Take Control Of Stress

"In the workplace, there's so much we can't control, so take control of what you can," said Dr. Claire Michaels Wheeler, the author of "10 Simple Solutions to Stress."

That means changing your relationships with colleagues and leaving your emotions out of the office, Michaels Wheeler said.

If you're constantly at odds with a peer, for example, change the tenor.

"We're all half jerk, half jewel. They're going to be who they're going to be, whether you get twisted in a knot or not," said Mary Kay Mueller, the author of the "8 To Great Program For Businesses and Schools." "Find their jewel. Talk to one woman about African violets and one guy about his garden. See their humanity."

Before you go ask the boss for a raise, or tell her you need to cut back your hours, practice what you'll say and how you'll say it.

"Practice staying calm. Set some talking points and don't veer away," Michaels Wheeler said. "Use 'I' statements. People think too much about what the other person wants, needs or feels, but you can't know. Just focus on what you want, need and feel and build a case for it."

Mueller said she's a big believer in changing the entire office by first changing yourself. For instance, don't wait for your boss to praise you on your most recent work.

"Employee-to-boss appreciation is just as important. Life is a mirror -- you want more appreciation, give more," Mueller said.

Some work stress is completely individual. If you're a person who takes on too many assignments or works too many hours, you need to speak up. Michaels Wheeler said that if the idea of defending your needs just adds to your stress, create a persona -- a kind of stage version of yourself.

"Don't tell lies, just take on a more confident demeanor. People respond well to confidence," she said. "It's amazing how it works."

Don't Just Sit There

Traci Galinsky is a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and serves on the human factors in ergonomics research team at NIOSH. Her research on data entry professionals found that when workers get up and walk away from their computers at regular intervals over the day they are more productive.

"We found that not only does that reduce the discomfort that accumulates over the work day, it also tends to enhance performance enough to offset any productivity loss that you'd expect by giving the breaks. Overall work quantity was maintained," Galinsky said. "The breaks appear to allow for recovery from fatigue so that when they go back to work, their work is enhanced."

So, instead of picking up the phone to brainstorm with a colleague, walk to his desk. Instead of spending your break surfing the Web, take a walk around the outside of your building.

If you can't take the time to walk away, you can do a few easy stretches in your chair. Josh Swinnerton, the founder and technical director of DeskActive, created software that reminds workers to take periodic breaks, then pops up ideas on how to spend the time.

"We see you've typed 50,000 keystrokes without a break," Swinnerton said, reciting what the pop-up might read. "Here's an animation of some stretches you can do at your desk."

Swinnerton's company is based in Australia, and he said that country's headquarters for Microsoft uses DeskActive software.

Just Breathe

Michaels Wheeler said a few deep, conscious breaths will clear your mind in the middle of a project.

"There are breathing exercises you can do to bring your nervous system into a calm state. The easiest is to breathe out for twice as long as you breathe in, and do it for three or four breaths. It's almost like rebooting," she said.

Also, take a few minutes to set up your workspace comfortably. Cornell University offers a quick ergonomics tutorial.

Don't Feed The Germs

When was the last time you cleaned your desk, or disinfected your keyboard? Research from the University of Arizona's Dr. Charles Gerba showed that a typical desk contains 400 times the bacteria of the average public toilet seat.

Eating and applying makeup at your desk gives germs plenty of sustenance. A weekly wipedown with an antibacterial product will reduce the chances those germs will make you sick.

If your cubicle mate always tries to work through every sniffle and cough, you may want to wash your hands more and take more of those walk-around-the-building breaks.

Unhealthy Workplaces Cost Employers

So many of us try to work through both physical and emotional illness without fixing the root cause that a new word has cropped up to represent it: presenteeism. That's when you go to work but you're not really doing the job.

"Companies' on-the-job productivity losses from presenteeism are possibly as high as 60 percent of the total cost of worker illness -- exceeding the costs of absenteeism and medical and disability benefits," according to a study from Cornell University Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (IHPS) and the health-information firm Medstat.

In fact, NIOSH research psychologist Jeannie A. S. Nigam estimates that businesses lose $300 billion annually to lost productivity.

"From a management perspective, it's important not to blame workers for the problems and to provide opportunities for employees to provide ideas," Nigam said. "Employees need to feel they have someone they can go to when a problem does arise."

With all that money on the line, your company has a reason to work with you to create a healthier office. Why not go ask for help today?