Feeling mentally drained after a day at work can be a common situation for many. According to a new study carried out by scientists from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, the State University of New York Upstate Medical University and the Syracuse University Center of Excellence in New York (USA), the air the office could be responsible .
According to the researchers, inhaling air in a poorly ventilated office can decrease the function of our brain capacity by more than half than usual. To reach this conclusion, they conducted an experiment with 24 volunteers who usually worked in offices. They were all housed in a building full of offices for six days (to which they had to go to work from 09:00 to 17:00), during which they deliberately – and artificially – altered the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), dangerous chemicals such as air pollutants that are released by the burning of fuels, such as wood or gasoline, but also by solvents, paints, etc …
The experts conducted cognitive performance tests before, during and after the duration of the experiment. The results revealed that on the days when VOC levels were low, the participants improved their results by 61% compared to the average for the rest of the days . On days classified as “green +” where there were windows open to the open air and very low VOC levels, their performance improved even more compared to the rest of the days ( 101% ).
The conclusions of the work reveal, therefore, that to be more productive at work, we need a suitable environment , since the buildings in which we work have the ability to influence both negatively and positively on our health and therefore on our work performance .
The study has been published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
