Most of us are employed in some profession or the other, and most of us spend hours on end at the office, working with full dedication to earn our rightful places on the administrative ladder. But all of us tend to stick to and follow certain work habits which are quite mindless in nature and can damage our health and wellbeing.
So today, we are going to take a look at these mindless work habits and why and how we need to avoid them. Read on to find out more.
Mindless Work Habits That Are Really Bad
Skipping lunch for work
This perhaps is the most common work habit people tend to follow. Owing to being deeply focused on work, we tend to completely forget about lunch time, and end up missing the second most important meal of the day on a regular basis. Usually, corporate offices discourage eating at the work desk, because that could make things messy and lead to an infestation of unwanted germs.
When you leave your seat to go to the cafeteria, you boost the levels of Vitamin D in your system due to the stroll you take, coupled with a healthy boost to your level of immunity and digestion. You also ensure that your brain receives a decent amount of oxygen to function properly and help us perform official duties such as balancing accounts, or writing code for a program, or preparing a business essay for a client meeting, etc.
Keeping your workplace or desk messy and dirty
We are all so much engrossed with work, that keeping our desks neat and clean becomes a secondary responsibility – sometimes a responsibility that is often neglected regularly. Our desks are usually filled with piles of papers and files, unused folders, and random stack of post it stickers.
All these things are useful as stationary while working, but should always be discarded or neatly arranged once the work has been completed. But that does not usually happen, and we have to work at a messy and congested desk. This is definitely not healthy. You need a clean and roomy environment to complete your work with the utmost level of effectiveness and productivity.
Neglecting water intake for work
Owing to our busy schedule at the office, as well as our habit to forget the vital things in life, we often tend to not drink an ample amount of water, especially in the summer months. Water is a vital stimulant for your brain power as well as your skin, along with working as an energy booster and an anti-headache liquid.
Hence, you can imagine that without the proper levels of water intake, you might feel lethargic, dehydrated, stressed out, and can ultimate fall ill, which will surely hamper your overall professional career.
Forgetting to take regular bathroom breaks
Almost all of us are grilled at the office by our supervisors, making us unable to leave our desks and go to the bathroom at regular intervals. In some cases, we ourselves choose not to go the bathroom and relieve ourselves owing to the desire to finish work as well as possible.
But what we fail to understand is that storing urine in our bladders and urinary tract may cause a number of physiological disorders, including cystitis, kidney and Ureter stones, elevated uric acid, creatinine and serum urea levels, and ultimate breakdown of standard kidney functions. Our kidneys are vital organs, and need to be taken care of. So, our bathroom breaks should be proportional to the amount of fluids we drink during the day. Your health comes first – work can wait.
High levels of caffeine intake
Big brands advertise coffee as the ultimate health drink for the brain, which also helps to keep an individual energetic throughout the day.
What people fail to understand is that this caffeinated drink has quite a few side effects. Excessive coffee intake can lead to increased anxiety, heartburn and severe headaches. Doctors prescribe only 400 ml of daily coffee intake, beyond which, you can actually develop high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases.
Wasting time with mindless gossip
Gossip is perhaps the biggest vice among all humans on this globe. Whatever the place and the time may be, people tend to gossip about a number of things, such as, habits of a co-worker, love life of a close friend, etc. Professional and career oriented individuals are also not exempted from this vice.
But the thing is that a lot of time is wasted at the office if they forget about work and indulge in extended periods of chatting and gossiping. A little bit of chatting with your colleagues is healthy, as it helps you to relieve some stress, but extended chatting sessions should be avoided as much as possible.
Answering in the affirmative without giving it a second thought
We all have bosses, and it is our constant endeavour to impress our bosses and supervisors with our actions and performance at the office. But owing to this endeavour, we tend to say yes to everything we are asked to do, without giving things a second thought.
What we fail to understand is that saying yes to everything we are asked to do might land us in a stressful situation. Saying yes can definitely increase our work pressure, leading to late night office hours, taking work home, and even staying over at the office to finish work – all of which are harmful for one’s health and mind. Learn to say no sometimes – it might help you in the long run.
Staying back at the office till late hours
As said under the earlier subheading, staying for late hours at the office might not be a healthy choice, as it might increase the levels of stress and lead to untimely illnesses of various sorts.
Working overtime might help you financially, but if you get sick and have to spend your extra earnings on doctor’s fees and medicine, then there basically is no point in working overtime. So finish your work and go home on time, and get a good night’s sleep. 🙂
1 Comment
HI Harshil you’re right
While the enough intake of water is necessary, overdose of coffee is not good for health too.
I always ask my kids to keep their work and study tables clean.
thanks for sharing.