Slacker or Sick

dancpsu writes "Researchers at Temple University's College of Health Professions found that early nerve damage caused by repetitive strain injuries can trigger "sick worker" syndrome -- often mistaken for poor performance. They discovered that nerve injuries caused by low-force, highly repetitive work can be blamed on an onslaught of cytokines -- proteins that help start inflammation. Unexpectedly, the researchers also found that the cytokines affected the rats' psychosocial responses. At three weeks, even before the rats experienced pain from their wrist injuries, they began to self-regulate their work behavior. By five weeks to eight weeks, when cytokine production reached "peak" levels, some rats curled up in a ball and slept in between tasks."

Comments

A good reason to stop reading Slashdot tonight

[saskboy]

"Early nerve damage caused by repetitive strain injuries can trigger "sick worker" syndrome -- characterized by malaise, fatigue and depression"

If this doesn't prompt you to get up from your computer and go to bed a bit earlier tonight, there's no hope for you, in other words. You'll be involluntarily curled up like a rat ball, if you don't take charge of your wrist health.

Re:Rats?

[Skater]

I had to stop reading it about halfway through because I couldn't stand the patronizing tone. I kept thinking, "Okay, I get it. I have to look for opportunities, and I shouldn't let myself get too comfortable, and I should be ready for a sudden upheaval. What's your next point?" But there never was another point - it just kept bashing those into the readers' heads. I felt like ripping the book in half.

And I had a similar (but not as pronounced) reaction: I remembered that I work to live, not live to work.