FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
December 30, 2003
Air Bud
The office I'm working in features an excessive amount of white noise because I sit directly below an air vent of sorts. I've gotten used to it, but working in this temporary space made me remember an experience I had while working at another magazine back in 1996.
One day, my colleagues and I had the sense that something was wrong. Off. Awry. And we couldn't quite put our fingers on it. Turns out that the air conditioning had turned off, and what was disturbing us was... silence. We were uncomfortable because the white noise we'd become accustomed to was gone.
This noon, while going through my daily Web reads, I came across a mention of the ESP Personal Air Purifier. And I'm now thinking about the air I breathe -- and the water I drink -- at work. I have no idea how healthy any of the office buildings I've worked in are -- and I've never given thought to using anything like an air purifier. Until today.
How healthy is your workplace? Are products like this bunko -- or boffo? What do you do where you work to stay healthy and make your workspace your own?
Posted by Heath Row at December 30, 2003 2:15 PM | Category: culture |
5 Comments
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My office is in a very old building on Wall Street. We use our water cooler for drinking, making ice cubes, and watering the plants. We don't use tap water for anything except to wipe the floor--the tap water smells rusty, and sometimes it's green (maybe it's alligator juice from the sewer).
Studies have shown that for work involving intelligence and concentration, noise (auditive, visual, olfactive,...) will reduce your potential by as much as 40% - and that's supposed to be a measurable impact on your intelligence at that specific moment.
It is also true that removing the noise may require re-adaptation. However, the benefits are claimed to be huge.
Can't recall the name of the article I read this in, but it was by a brain-surgeon - guess they should now...
The solution: silent environment (ban openspace offices, get PC's with low fan noise,...), clean walls,...
More than just the air and the noise, people done move about much or exercise. Whe they do they do it in a smelly gym. Its the sun and the fresh air that is important to the head as it is to the heart