Web Working Without Winter Worries
February 16th, 2007 (4:00am) Matthew Reinbold 3 Comments
The first few months of any New Year are prime cold and flu season. For web workers the consequences of falling ill are much more dire than our cubical brethren; if we aren’t working, we aren’t getting paid. Further, the frequent use of public spaces makes the web worker a target. Our exposure primes us for anything from a sniffle to Ebola’s little sister. The best way to avoid getting sick is to have as little stress, workload, and waking hours as possible. However, for most people (let alone the web worker) this isn’t possible. With the stakes high and likelihood higher what’s a digital doer to do?
Practical simple solutions include:
1. Washing your hands. Web workers congregate in public places and things like handrails, corner tables, and restrooms are prime germs stopovers. Simply giving your hands a good wash after visiting the communal office promotes good health. Hand sanitizers are ok in a pinch but are questionably effective. Good ol’ running water will wash away many microbes you might have picked up.
2. Minimizing contact with mouth and eyes. The idea of little germs scuttling on your skin may make you squeamish. But it’s only when they get inside and begin doing the Texas Two Step (itself a pox on our people) that a cold can take root. Once they get inside your body you’re on a fast track to a snotty nose and pleas for deadline extensions. Avoid contact until tip 1, washing your hands, is possible.
3. Exercising. What general health list wouldn’t be complete without exercise? Much more than perennial resolution, aerobic exercise increases blood flow and oxygen circulation. This movement strengthens the body’s natural processes. It also has the pleasant side effect of (paradoxically) extra energy.
4. Drinking lots of liquids. Keeping the barista busy with non-caffeinated drinks is never a bad idea. Not only will they be more tolerant of your “good table” monopolization but those liquids help flush germ cells. They also improve the function of white blood cells, the little med workers of the web worker.
For every common sense item there are just as many things to avoid. While liquids are great don’t binge on the fruit juices. These drinks contain high concentrations of sugars like fructose and/or sucrose. Both slow down the immune system. Further, a shot of whiskey may help finish a troublesome assignment, but it won’t help you stay healthy. Alcohol, like caffeine, dehydrates the body at the time it needs to be hydrated most. Finally, Vitamin C, long advertised as the ultimate sickness deterrent, is surprisingly ineffective. Recent studies suggest that while it may reduce the duration and severity of a cold it does nothing toward lessening the frequency.
Getting sick this winter doesn’t have to be inevitable. With a few common sense approaches you’ll stay as healthy as or better than those workhorses stuck in the cube farm. What are your tricks for avoiding the season’s ailments?
3 Comments Post your own comment
Bob Grommes says: February 16th, 2007 1:55pm
This is a topic of special importance to me because working from home is a huge quality of life issue for my wife, who is severely immune compromised. A two-day sniffle for you or me can mean three weeks of misery for her. So working from home in and of itself greatly reduces the odds of me bringing some illness home. In fact the office environments I worked in last were very sickness-inducing — the workspace was in interior rooms in cramped quarters with other people and equipment. In one case, the equipment was a bank of laser printers that ran more or less continuously — spewing toner fumes into the poorly ventilated room. My co workers and I were sick almost constantly, trading germs with each other.
Avoiding the stress of a daily round trip commute that can amount to one or two hours of driving in heavy traffic doesn’t hurt either … less stress equals better health.
The tips you mention such as hand washing are good common-sense tips but most people feel funny about implementing them in an overt fashion. In an office environment, I have seem people discreetly keep a bottle of antiseptic hand rinse or some Lysol at their desk and use it when others aren’t looking. The beauty of working at home is that I don’t even have to worry about this sort of thing unless I go to a public space.
I watch local news reports for a sense of when flu season is really kicking in locally — it can vary quite a lot from year to year. Once it starts, I venture out only for absolutely necessary things — regrettably doctor appointments is one of those, and one of the worst places you can go, but a trick we’ve found is to get an appointment first thing in the morning before the waiting rooms (and the HVAC system) fills up with pathogens. We buy clothes and even food online and have it delivered. It’s not a fun way to live but it only lasts a couple of months and we are basically homebodies anyway.
Several years ago I found out quite by accident that I had an underlying health problem that made me prone to catching everything in sight. I had this dealt with and in the years since then, I have had about a 90% reduction in the number of colds and flu I have caught — and when I do catch something it is much milder and with fewer complications. In fact after a lifetime unknowingly living with this health problem, I had trouble even recognizing when I was sick, it was so mild. So don’t overlook paying attention to your own health and getting any underlying issues dealt with if possible. Most of us just soldier on no matter what, and it can be a self-defeating behavior.
Anne 2.0 » Blog Archive » Feeling Sick or Stressed? Check out Web Worker Daily’s Latest says: February 16th, 2007 2:25pm
[...] Our new writer Matthew with ways to keep Winter bugs away [...]
HVAC says: April 16th, 2007 1:08am
HVAC
The type that only have a duct that ejects air externally are not