Bangkok--23 Dec--JWT
For workaholics, everyday life is always full of “work, meetings, emails, clients”.
Of course, it’s not wrong to be proud of your great work achievement, a result of relentless determination and dedication. Your spirit can absolutely go full steam ahead at work but let’s not forget that your body is certainly not a machine — there are days that our body can become weaker and completely exhausted. If you choose work over health, your body will definitely go down hill one day. But if you want to extend the time to enjoy every second of your work, now it’s time to have a thorough re-evaluation of your health. You may find warning signs that alert you to start taking care of yourself before it gets too late.
Mr. Prasert Sriuranpong, Executive Director of “Life Center”, Thailand’s breakthrough lifestyle mall embodying a medical center, specialised healthcare clinics, aesthetics center and urban shopping plaza with a comprehensive range of world-class health and beauty innovations, disclosed that “Over 10% of city dwellers are likely to suffer from “Office Syndrome”, a symptom caused by aging conditions, pollution, and most importantly, hectic and stressful “work behaviour”. Today’s rapidly changing work pace has undoubtedly affected people’s behaviour. Spending several hours at the computer coupled with insufficient food intake and inadequate sleep in order to complete the job certainly expose your body to extended stress, leaving no time to relax and unintentionally putting your health at risk.”
City-Dweller’s Top 5 Symptoms
Migraine: Chronic Condition of Severe Headache
Have you ever felt pulsating painful headaches around the temple, at your forehead or at the back of your neck? This could be the sign that you are likely suffering from “migraine”, a symptom mainly caused by continuous cramping of shoulder and neck muscles around the trigger points which make blood vessels in the brain contract and expand inappropriately. The result is continuous severe headaches. Sunlight, heat, inadequate sleep and lack of some hormones can also facilitate migraine.
Migraine is found in people aged 10 to 50. On average, 18% of women and 6% of men suffer from these painful headaches. Nevertheless, several tips can easily keep you free from migraine, i.e. have adequate sleep, stay away from overheated, poorly ventilated rooms, exercise your shoulder and neck muscles regularly to maintain muscle flexibility and to avoid muscle tension and cramps, frequently change your posture while sitting to reduce muscle tension, and consult a practitioner in Thai traditional medicine to release trigger points around the body muscles.
Body Imbalance
Generally, the human body is designed to endure various disturbing factors from the environment and simultaneously remove and regulate the entire body system to function properly and effectively with the ‘brain’ as the central part of body function.
The brain will command and send orders along the nerves to control the functioning of internal organ systems, including muscles and joints, through the nerve roots on the spinal cord. If the spine loses its natural curve balance (i.e. bent, crooked, diminutive) as a result of wrong sitting positions at the office or repetitive unhealthy postures every day, the body muscles will no longer take the tension and eventually this will be reflected in various forms of pain, for instance, chronic back pain, neck pain, cramp or weakened limbs, etc. In an early stage, an improperly aligned spine may not show obvious negative effects, but in the long-term it can cause pressure on the nerves which will then lead to strokes and paralysis, as well as other symptoms and malfunctioning of the body systems.
Simple after-care and preventive techniques can be preformed daily by yourself to bring your body structure back into balance, for example, stretch your muscles and avoid staying in one posture for too long to reduce muscle tension, avoid muscle overuse and increase movement of the core muscle while walking, standing, sitting and sleeping to enhance muscle strength. This is because muscles can stretch out the improperly aligned bone to its naturally normal curve, thus redesigning the body structure to reach its perfect balance. Alternatively, performing therapeutic exercise with a professional physiotherapist can effectively adjust your body structure and yourself to a new lifestyle.
Chronic Postural Back & Neck Pain Syndrome
The new generation office workers spent most of their long working hours at the computer or usually wear high heels. Such a prolonged static activities are not what human body has evolved to cope with after all. The spine needs to be moved regularly to be healthy. Most people are not aware of how much problems such a chronic postural stress & strain can, in the long run, silently undermine their spinal structures integrities. This is why more than 80% of office workers have experienced at least one back pain in their lives and more than 20% have to live with the so-called “chronic spinal pain”.
During acute pain attack, medication and passive therapeutic exercise can greatly reduce the pain but they are less likely able to rebuild the body’s strength to diminish future chronic or recurrent pains. Active Rehabilitation, on the other hand, results in superior long term pain control as compared with the traditional approaches. Good news: A month of daily low intensity — low impact aerobic exercises may be just what almost 50% of chronic spinal pain may need to become pain free. Researches have confirmed that those who does not benefit from ,or just can not correctly do the exercises on their own, can significantly get very good long term pain control by taking part in individualized active rehabilitation programme consisting of muscular exercise targeting on specific problem areas under closed specialist supervision.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Another silent threat for workaholics, “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is apparently becoming widespread amongst office workers who spend long hours at the computer. CTS usually occurs when using the wrist to grab things or click the mouse in a repetitive manner for too long period. The muscles will then press the nerves and sinews until they become swollen, leading to formation of a large number of connective tissues around the wrist. CTS is also caused by the repetitive signals of the median nerve which runs from the forearm into the hand and becomes pressed at the wrist, resulting in peripheral nerve pain or swollen sinews around the neck.
You can stay away from CTS with these easy tips: relax the muscles around your hands and wrists every 15 — 20 minutes, consult a professional physiotherapist specialised in manual therapy, or exercise your hands with specific therapeutic equipment to improve the efficiency of your wrist’s movement and its ability to fully function. In case of a severe swollen wrist, it is recommended to consult a doctor to protect yourself from a more critical condition and the possibility of having to undergo an operation.
Hearing Loss
SHL is increasingly common amongst city dwellers and is caused by several factors such as heredity, particular symptoms or other environmental factors etc. The ear nerves usually start to deteriorate at the age of 30 — 50 years old or later. However, advanced technology plays a vital role in today’s lifestyle as seen from the popularity of people listening to music via the mobile phone and MP3 and talking on the mobile phone for a long period, which can facilitate deteriorating ear nerves and lead to SHL.
The early symptoms of SHL can be obvious, for instance, when you start to experience less ability to hear unclear sounds while talking to others or request others to repeat the sentence many times. It is strongly recommended to consult an ear specialist to determine the cause of SHL early before it’s too late. Alternatively, you can also visit a hearing-aid center for a hearing test and get useful advice on how to regain your hearing and enjoy a normal life the way you deserve.
These top 5 symptoms are just a glimpse of today’s new syndromes. In fact, there are many silent threats that can gradually put your health in danger if you still choose work over health. Let’s find time for ourselves, regain our body balance and we will soon realise the meaning of a happy life.
The first of its kind, Life Center is Thailand’s complete lifestyle mall embodying everything about health and beauty innovations in one place, from a world-class medical center, specialized healthcare clinics, urban shopping plaza to health and beauty products and services for discerning health conscious shoppers. Find out more about healthy body and skin at www.lifecenterthailand.com
Doctor Care Migraine center, Ariya Wellness Center, DBC Spine Clinic and Gym, Kinesis Therapeutic Clinic and Hearing Focus.
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JWT Public Relations
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