Behavioral Expert Predicts How Office Workers Might Look In 20 Years

Experts just delivered a lot more reasons to hate your boring desk job. While it may not be news to most of you,  sitting at your desk all day staring at the computer screen is actually harmful to your health. For those who are not convinced, scientists have invented a visual depiction of what an office job is doing to your body. Just look at this hunched-back woman with a protruding stomach staring back at you with her red eyes.

Her name is Emma, and she’s a dummy created to demonstrate what the average office worker will look like in 20 year’s time. If this image didn’t make you straighten your back and stop slouching then probably nothing will.

Image credits: PA

Emma was created as part of the study commissioned by office equipment supplier, Fellowes. Behavioural Futurist William Higham and a team of experts set out to investigate the effects that desk jobs have on an employee’s health.

Image credits: PA

Researchers interviewed 3,000 employees from various European countries about their health issues and concerns. The findings have helped them to create a doll that illustrates how these concerns will change the human body.

Image credits: PA

Here are the common afflictions portrayed by Emma:

A hunched back caused by sitting with bad posture;
varicose veins caused by poor blood flow;
a protruding stomach caused by sedentary working;
swollen wrists and ankles;
sore, red eyes from long hours staring at the computer screen;
a hairy nose and ears caused by poor air quality;
Eczema caused by stress.

Image credits: PA

With work-related sick days costing the UK’s economy a staggering sum of £77 billion every year, the researchers encourage people to take their health issues more seriously. ‘The Work Colleague of the Future report shows that employers and workers really need to act now and address the problem of poor workplace health,’ said Higham.

Image credits: PA

Researchers found that office workers spend an average of six hours sitting at a desk each day, which is why 90 percent of the UK’s office workers report experiencing health issues that reduce their work performance.

‘Unless we make radical changes to our working lives, such as moving more, addressing our posture at our desks, taking regular walking breaks or considering improving our workstation setup, our offices are going to make us very sick.’

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